Adrift: Not So Black and White
by Princess Alexandria
Summary: Christy Taylor (OC) travels realities and when she fled the Xmen world she found herself in Storybrooke season 1. She'd seen the show and wants to try and build a life in this new world, but the upcoming end of the curse will make that challenging. An anti-hero in aworld of heroes and villians will have a hard time fitting in. femslash. - reposted currently incomplete
1. Chapter 1

Not so Black and White - Once Upon a Time

By Princess Alexandria

 **Note: There is a series of stories with very similar prologues that end up in different fictional worlds. This story is for Once Upon a Time. They used to be in one posted story, and I'm pulling them apart for easier reading. I also plan to work on finishing a few of these now. I told myself I couldn't start a new Christy centered story until I finish some of these others up. - My Original Character, Christy Taylor, has been featured in a few different stories. Most in the Xmen universe, but also in others.  
**

 **Prologue – In an Xmen World, far far away.**

Christy took a form that was a good twenty years younger than what she was, because most of the people here were in their early twenties, but clearly not all. As a young college nerd, wearing dark glasses and an Xfiles tshirt she made her way into the convention.

"Miss the X on your clothes?" A blonde woman in her late twenties walked up beside her and spoke quietly, with a slight smirk on her lips. They both pretended to be looking over the list of upcoming panels. Christy took in the True Blood tshirt and tight jeans, before looking away again.

"Not too much." Christy glanced around subtly. The xmen turned on her, for the most part, when her dark past was revealed six months ago. "Which one are you?" She asked, but seeing the wicked tilt of the blonde's lips Christy followed it up with her guess, "Esme?"

"Not too bad shape shifter." Esme nodded and started to walk further into the convention, pretending to glance at the tables of materials. "We're all here. Annie has us guarding all the entrances." Esme picked up a Xena magnet and glanced at the price. "She's not happy with your idea."

"I don't have much holding me here anymore." Christy muttered and wandered away from the telepath on guard duty to try and work her way to the girl she'd taken in ten years ago. Her heart ached at the fact she had to call Annie for help, but Annie's luck power gave Christy the best chance she had to start over. It was Christy's own luck that even though Annie was shocked at the stories she'd heard, she was still loyal and caring.

A small group of people crowded up to look at the listed panels, interrupting their conversation. "Lana Parilla is here!" One excited woman dressed up as Snow White said. Esme and Christy left in separate directions.

Christy walked passed people dressed in Star Trek costumes, around tables selling Twilight materials, and around a lifesize mannequin of a Terminator as she made her way deeper into the convention. It was hard to appear happy and excited about the Fantasy and Science Fiction Convention she was walking through, but she did slow her pace near some tables to appear to belong. She caught the eye of another blonde, this one wearing an faded looking Team Alice Cullen tshirt and wondered briefly if that was Sophie or Phoebe, both were Annie's lovers, but when she just got a nod she moved on to try and find Annie herself.

Every where she looked another table sat, more people with costumes, and posters filled with characters from movies or shows. One table had a large collection of TV shows and Christy pretended to look them over, picking up a season of Once Upon a Time to read the back. She set it down when she heard Annie's voice nearby.

A woman with black hair falling in waves to her mid back started to walk alongside her. Christy glanced to the side and was a little surprised to see the light green skin, out in the open. "I blend in better as myself here." Annie explained and glanced down at her Star Trek costume. When Christy glanced at it she noticed Annie blushed for a moment, before her face became more controlled and her eyes trailed over the floor below, from the balcony they'd stopped at. "I don't want you to leave."

"It's hiding or prison for me here." Christy spoke softer, seeing the young girl she'd taken in, hidden in what had become a rather confident woman before her. "I can count the number of people who want me to stay here on one hand Annie, and none of them can be around me when I have such a target on my head." Christy was surprised Annie even asked, even cared, with the disgust so many had voiced about Christy's past. Christy had carefully kept her past to herself, not even letting Jean know about it, but that new mutant had the power to project her greatest secrets into the night sky and they'd all seen her at her worst. Maybe if she'd admitted to it before then, but she hadn't, and now the Xmen were out for her blood, as if she could bleed for them. "I can't win this battle here." She spoke softly to the woman next to her. "And I'm just so tired of defending myself from them, and the government they told about me. Even if they decided to stop this now, it's too late. Once Scott called the government on my crimes, it was over. I can't ever go back."

"Scott and the Professor called me to ask if I'd seen you." Annie told Christy as yet another blonde came toward them, this one in a Ravenclaw shirt. "I told them no."

"Christy," The telepath spoke softly and then shared a concerned look with Annie. "If you want there to be lots of proof you've left, the news crew will be set up in a few minutes to film the convention." Christy wanted the audience, so that the government wouldn't keep looking, because she knew how they'd work. She didn't want the few people she cared about captured to try and lure her to surrender, and if she weren't there to surrender it would be worse.

"That's perfect." Christy muttered and Annie grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly.

"I want to try something." Annie's eyes seemed to plead for Christy to agree and Christy was startled when two people she didn't know started to come right toward them. "Raine can copy some powers and transfer it to another person, for a little while." Annie nodded to the redhead coming their way. "And Doug can boost peoples powers, he can boost hers." Annie turned to stare Christy in the eyes. "I want you to have some luck, bring it with you, to get you started in your new life. I want to give you that, so I don't have nightmares of what might be happening to you." Annie knew her too well, Christy thought, as the one argument she couldn't ignore was giving to her. "It's a longshot, but that's what I'm good at. Maybe this will help." Annie gave her a partial smile.

Christy wanted to hurry before they were caught, to make sure that the news caught her on tape leaving, and there were hundreds of witnesses to prove it, so that the new peace the mutants of this world had finally gotten from the American Government didn't end in the Governments greed for unlimited resources that Christy could give them. Still she nodded her head for a questionable experiment that might not even work on her, since her body makeup wasn't typical.

Raine held Annie and Christy's hand, and Doug stood behind Raine, apparently gripping her neck in a large hand from behind, resting on her vertebrae and hair. Christy didn't know these two, and wondered if Annie had hunted them down for her, because Annie didn't seem to hold that normal open expression she held near friends with them.

"Sophie." Annie spoke as the blonde's eyes widened.

"Military, coming in fast. We also sense the Xmen. This is going to be a battle if we don't move now." Sophie told them and Christy nodded, before giving Annie one last hug.

The scream of her power startled all the people on the floor below and Christy stood up on the railing, as the portal she could create to another world opened up above their heads. She waited until the cameras of the tv crews moved around to focus on the swirling light of her portal, and took one last look at the people of this world, dressed up as if from other worlds, and leapt at the portal, trusting the luck Annie filled her with to pick her destination. From a place like this, with reminders of so many different realities, which the people assumed were fictional worlds, Christy could end up almost anywhere.

As she passed through the portal, she saw twists and ribbons of light through the walls of her own portal and stared in shock as an uncountable number of portal tunnels became visible for just a moment, showing something she'd never seen the only other time she'd traveled like this, other Christy's heading to other worlds. How many realities were nearly the same as the one she'd just left? How many worlds were just a small decision apart from the next?

Christy didn't want to land in something nearly what she'd just been in, didn't want to stare into familiar faces and wonder if they'd hate her like these people had. Christy wanted a completely different world. No more mutants. Thoughts of all the possibilities filled her mind and for once, she appreciated what her power could offer her.

The light around her finally changed as the exit to her ride approached.

…..

Christy came shooting out of the tunnel, and the wood and sand were all that her conscious mind noticed as she twisted in the air to avoid a painful collision with a beam and she managed to hit the sand, her body skidding over it and breaking up the earth for several feet. She came to a rest and took a deep breath of now sandy air, before she turned back to stare at her glowing portal. It was with a heavy heart that she closed it and therefore her connection to her home, and her friends, from a world she wasn't welcome in anymore. When the small wavelike sound of her portal was no longer there she glanced around at the playground she'd managed to arrive at, and the silence in the early evening.

The boy staring at her with wide eyes was a surprise and Christy just stared back for a moment, a bit stunned that Annie's luck didn't at the very least guarantee her a private arrival. "I wouldn't mention what you just saw." She spoke softly. "People don't tend to believe, and it'll only cause you trouble."

She glanced around the quiet area and verified that kid was alone. If he talked it wouldn't be a huge deal.

"You just did magic, here." The boy whispered, but then he spoke more loudly. "You did magic here." The way he stressed the word **here** was odd and Christy turned to face the young boy again. That sounded like magic existed here, and magic was something new to Christy. It made her feel more cautious already.

"Magic?" She turned her body to face him fully, and took two steps closer. He had to be about ten, young, but the way he looked so excited was off.

"You did magic, I saw you. Did you come from Fairy Tale World?" His eyes were huge, and Christy frowned at not understanding him. Her own eyes widened as she remembered something.

"Storybrooke?" Christy asked reluctantly and glanced around before staring at him again.

"Yeah, Storybrooke Maine." He confirmed the bad news. She stared at the sand as she wondered about this new challenge. New people never came into Storybrooke, she'd stick out horribly, something a spy hated to do. Christy had landed in the town filled with fairy tale characters who didn't know who they were. "Annie, what were you thinking?" Christy muttered to herself, wondering how this could be considered lucky at all.

There had to be something, some reason, that being here was a good idea. Annie's luck power would have protected her plan to give Christy luck, so she landed where she was supposed to be, but Christy wasn't sure what she'd get out of living here. If she left Storybrooke she might not be able to get back, with the curse in place, so Christy had to just trust in Annie's power and find a way to stay here in spite of how conspicuous she'd be in any form.

"Kay kid, just remember talking about me will only earn you more appointments with the shrink." Christy told him gently and moved to head toward the road she could see.

"That came out with you." The boy spoke up after she'd taken a few steps and she turned to see him pointing at something. Christy moved toward the metal box and squatted down next to it. A carefully hidden shift of her finger and she picked the lock to find it was a cashbox for a dvd reseller and they'd had a good day. Somehow it ended up being sent through the portal with her.

"Thanks." She picked it up and took it with her. "Where can I get a room around here?"

"You're staying?" He stood up finally.

"Guess so."

The boy proved to be used to odd, and Christy appreciated it. She got some good directions to Granny's B&B and a warning that everyone was going to be staring at her.

"Who are you?" He asked hesitantly, yelling it across the playground at her as she just made it to the street.

"Name's Christy."

"Who are you really?" He pushed and Christy knew he expected a fairy tale character.

"Just call me Christy." She gave him a smile and left him for the town. The walk was not going to be long enough for her to come up with a plan, so she was going in on luck and hoping for the best.

….…..

Walking down the street was not the parade of staring she expected. Few people were out and about and Christy managed to get to the B&B without talking to anyone, or becoming an attraction to be stared at.

Once she was inside the building, she stood at the desk, and glanced around. No one was there, but then who ever actually rented a room here? They probably didn't man the desk often, Christy thought with a sigh and enhanced her hearing to see if anyone was around at all. There was some movement upstairs, and Christy decided to hit the bell on the table at that moment and see if Ruby or Granny would come down. It was possible they weren't here, as they both also worked at the diner attached to this place and it was the middle of the day.

"Just a minute, just a minute." A woman's voice called out, slightly annoyed sounding, from upstairs and Christy was relieved to hear it. She didn't want to wander around town just yet, she needed to sit and figure out how she was doing this, what her backstory needed to be. She'd seen the first season of this show, and she needed to think about it to figure out how she was going to fit in here. She'd need to determine 'when' she'd landed, because some serious shit was going to go down at some point and Christy needed to be ready for that too.

Before anyone started down to her Christy shifted so it looked like she had a backpack and a bag, because no one checked in without luggage. The footsteps on the stairs had Christy turning to see the older woman making her way down toward her. This had to be Granny, and her eyes widened when she saw Christy. "Oh my, another one?" was whispered from the older ladies lips. "You're new here." Her voice was louder. "Planning to stay long?"

"Any chance I could get a discount on a longer stay?" Christy asked, used to negotiating for rooms. Her job as a spy had her spending lots of time in hotels and dives. She didn't have a lot of money and her credit cards were useless in this world. That surprise tin of money was definitely the luck Annie gave her, perhaps Annie's powers would supply a job as well, because there wasn't much need for a spy in a tiny town.

"You plan to stay a while?"

"I think I'll need at least a month to get settled." Christy told the woman. "I'm moving here, but I have to work out a job and place to live."

Granny still looked a bit stunned, before a smile grew across her lips. "Yes, sure, I could even give you meals at my diner. Kind of like those all inclusive joints." They negotiated, and Christy wasn't ashamed to admit she used her knowledge that Granny rarely actually had a boarder at her place to drive that price down. Any money Granny made from her would be more than she'd have had, and until Christy had a job she needed to be careful with her money. She didn't want to use her skills to steal petty cash.

The room was nicer than she'd hoped, but more frilly than Christy would ever consider having in her own home. She glanced around at it, took in the view from the window of the town square, and then just decided to lay down and take a nap. She'd been in motion for weeks, trying to organize her escape from the last world and now she needed to think her next steps out carefully before bumping into anyone. She'd plan better after some sleep.

…..

It was probably the tail end of the dinner rush when Christy made her way into the diner. No small town she'd ever been in responded to her this way, and it was a bit unnerving. Eyes widened and it didn't take the entire trip to the counter before she felt just about everyone was looking at her. She took a seat at the bar and tried to ignore the instinct that hated to have her back to anyone.

A young, attractive, brunette waitress with red streaks in her hair and in a skimpy outfit smiled at her widely and moved closer. "Hey stranger, I guess you'll be wanting a menu." The nametag said Ruby, but Christy had already guessed that one correctly. Christy was meeting the one and only little red riding hood. It had been a few years since she'd had that strange spark of knowing someone a bit when meeting them for the first time, and it was just a little amusing to feel that again when it wasn't alarming and scary anymore. Christy gave her a smile and took the menu being offered.

"So what's good here?" Christy asked casually while barely glancing at the menu, giving Ruby a slightly flirtatious grin that had the brunette's grin growing, and added some amusement into her eyes.

"You mean food?" Ruby leaned closer, "Is that what you meant?"

Christy chuckled. "Sure, food." It was fun to flirt so blatantly again, and she remembered enough of the show to know Ruby appreciated flirting. "So Red, what would you recommend?" Christy could feel some eyes still on her back and ignored them.

"Names Ruby." Ruby ducked her head down a little.

"I like Red better." Christy spoke and pointed at the red streaks in Ruby's hair. It was Ruby's real name, and after the first restful sleep in months, Christy felt playful with her knowledge. "So little Red Riding Hood, what do you recommend out of that basket of yours?" Christy's eyes trailed down to take in the shorts obviously and smiled more genuinely when Red chuckled at her.

"You are a heart breaker, aren't you?" Ruby leaned over the counter, her cleavage on display quite on purpose. "So tonight's special is the Turkey Dinner. We only have it once a week."

"Sounds lovely." Christy stared into brown eyes even with the cleavage right there. "I'll take it."

"Good, and to drink?" Ruby leaned back and looked over Christy's shoulder at someone, before standing more properly.

"I'll just have water."

"Ruby." A familiar voice spoke behind Christy and Christy found Granny moved to stand beside her, giving Christy a searching look. "I'm sorry I didn't catch your last name." She asked Christy.

"Darkholme." Christy offered quietly. She had a fake id with that name, and names had power with magic, or at least it seemed so, so she wasn't using her real one here.

"Okay," Granny turned to Ruby, "Ms. Darkholme gets free meals while she stays with us." There almost seemed to be a warning in there that Christy could guess meant her granddaughter wasn't supposed to be 'free' as well.

"Call me Christy. That's way too formal." Christy smiled and ignored the warning about flirting going on.

"Alright, Christy." Ruby gave a less enthusiastic smile. "One water coming up." And it didn't take too long, but Granny was gone when Ruby slid it across the counter to her. "If you ever want a beer with a meal, just let me know." Ruby spoke softly to her. "We don't get a lot of strangers here."

"Small town gets a bit boring?" Christy pulled her glass to her, understanding that Ruby was a wanderer trapped in one town.

"So what are you doing here?" Ruby asked, but before Christy could answer the waitress was called away to another table.

A few people seemed to reluctantly leave while Christy sat sipping at her water. When Ruby came back with a plate and sat it down in front of Christy she didn't rush off to another table. She stood there.

"I'm moving here." Christy answered the question asked a good five or ten minutes ago.

"You might want to reconsider that one." Ruby sighed heavily and leaned on the counter, clearly not planning to leave just yet. "Boring doesn't even cover it."

"I have had more than enough excitement for five lifetimes. A little boring sounds like heaven to me now." Christy picked up her fork slowly. This place wouldn't be boring for long anyhow. Ruby had no idea how much was really going on, but Christy did. It wouldn't be boring for long at all.

"What do you do?" Ruby asked and Christy slowly slipped a small forkful of potatoes into her mouth.

"I travelled a lot, taking care of problems my, company," Christy stumbled on the word company a bit, "needed me to. I moved around so much I didn't have even an apartment of my own. I'm looking forward to setting down roots."

"So you don't work for them anymore?"

"Left that job, there were some ethical concerns I had." Like them thinking she didn't have any. "So I left rather that deal with questionable things." Like questions. "I'm still bound by the gag order, so I can't really talk about that job."

Ruby leaned forward and grinned at her. "You sound like a spy, a real 007."

Christy chuckled like that was funny. "No, nothing that exciting. It's just lawyer stuff, me not being able to talk about it, not national security."

"Well, I guess I'll let you eat. You need anything, tell me." Ruby smiled at her and then moved to grab another order off the heat lamps. "Back to the grind." The waitress did not look happy to have to get back to work at that moment, but a few looks towards where Granny was working explained it. Christy ate in silence and covertly looked around, taking in the people around her.

A beer appeared in front of her as she was finishing her meal and Christy looked up at Ruby. "Jerk claimed he ordered the Alaskan Ale instead, so I don't want to waste this one."

"Thanks." Christy took the drink and took a sip. It was a decent beer.

"Granny says you'll be staying with us a month. I live at the B&B too." Ruby smiled. "Just don't break the law. The last woman that was new around here had a little trouble and we're not allowed to rent to anyone that spends a night in our jail." Ruby made a face like that was a stupid rule and Christy just nodded that she understood the warning. It seemed like an offer of friendship and one that Christy wasn't willing or able to turn down. She needed a tour guide.

Three beers later Christy made her way back to her room while Ruby continued to work. With the black man that stared at her as she walked away, she wondered if Regina was going to hear about her tonight or tomorrow. She wasn't Emma, but Sidney was likely going to report her being here. Christy might warrant a visit of her own from a control freak mayor and ex-queen tomorrow. Christy was still unsure how she wanted to deal with Regina when she met her, she wasn't sure what she thought about that woman.

….

Christy gasped loudly in shock, her body arching up off the bed and her eyes opened suddenly as she stared up at the ceiling above her. Her body shook as she relaxed back onto the bed. "Oh my god." Christy whispered to herself as the aftereffects washed over her. There was a shine in the glass by her bed, and Christy sat up and moved toward the bathroom that was part of her room to stare at white, glowing eyes. "What the hell happened?" She muttered as her hand moved to touch her face. Fully recharged instantly, and in her sleep, she'd never done that before. What kind of a catastrophe would be required for that?

Christy was actually a little fearful as she moved to the window to see if the town still existed. Her mind was still fuzzy, so she forgave herself the wave of relief she felt when she saw nothing out of the ordinary outside. It became a puzzle and she thought back to her day here. The curse was still in effect, she was sure, or Ruby would have responded differently to Christy calling her by her real name.

She stood in the window, staring up at the sky and it was clear enough to see no asteroids, no destruction, no weird magical lights. The sound reached her and Christy looked back down as she could hear the sound of an ambulance fill the night. "One death, all that from one death?" She whispered, her jaw dropping as she started to put together what had happened.

She could hear Granny making her way down the hall and Christy shifted some sunglasses on as she continued to stare out the window as she saw Granny step out to look down the street wearing a heavy bathrobe. That one move proved this was a small town, that and the concern in the older woman's face. In a city someone might just grumble about being woken up, but these people wondered who of their own was in trouble.

Christy moved to sit back down on her bed as she wondered how it was possible that a single death did so much for her here. It did bode well that she'd be fine here, because she wouldn't need a city to power up, a city didn't even touch this unless it was a horrible, horrible day.

Experience told her that in a small town like this, based on Granny's reaction, Christy was not going to be the topic of discussion tomorrow. She hadn't lost so much of her humanity as to not wish she'd gotten the reprieve a different way.

It took a while to fall back to sleep, but when she woke up in the morning she noticed her eyes were fine again. When she slipped into the diner for breakfast she saw sad, shocked faces looking at newspapers. The blonde that came to serve her was surprised enough to see a stranger, but she wasn't smiling and Christy ordered her omelet softly. Enhanced eyes moved across the diner to see the headlines in the morning paper and she finally got her answer as to when she landed in the action. Sheriff Graham had passed away last night. They were calling it a heart attack. One death, the one man who was breaking free of the curse, was all it took to power up instantly.

Once she was done she got up to head out and find out more about the town, and the jobs. There was a new opening in the police department, but Christy wasn't touching that job with a ten foot pole. No, Emma was going to need that job, and she was going to have to fight for it. Christy was going to stay out of that as much as she could.

With the town basically mapped out in her mind, and one disappointing visit to the library that lead Christy to believe the library didn't have a budget at all. It had no useful books, and no public access computers. It wasn't too surprising that the only person in there was a librarian and no one else. That librarian was a little creepy in how she stared at Christy as Christy worked.

Christy gave up in disgust around three, having read hundreds of copies of the newspaper. The only useful thing she learned in that had nothing to do with the words and everything to do with the pictures. The news was clearly edited to favor Regina, but if anyone had ever actually looked at all the papers like Christy just did they should have noticed that the people that tended to be in the news hadn't physically aged in ten years. If the newspapers went back further they would have seen it was twenty eight years, but at least someone thought to not have a public record of it that long sitting around in the library. She headed back to the Diner for lunch, a very late lunch

"Hey Stranger." Ruby said as Christy stepped in the door and there was a welcoming smile in spite of the somber day. Christy returned the smile and moved toward a booth. It was a little amusing that Ruby sat down across from her to take her order.

"So what have you been up to?" Ruby asked as she continued to hold the menu and stood in front of Christy.

"Research. Your history of job openings aren't impressive in this town. And don't even get me started on the fact that there aren't any apartments listed in the last three weeks. I may end up living with you forever if that doesn't fix itself." That was another thing she'd learned in the library.

"Oh, well, good luck with that." Ruby told Christy, while giving her a flirtatious searching look. "But it wouldn't be horrible to keep you here."

Giving the waitress a knowing smirk, Christy took in the attractive brunette. "You're all bark, but do you bite too?" Christy asked teasingly.

The smile grew a little wicked on Ruby's face as she leaned down, setting the menu on the table almost dramatically. "Wouldn't you like to know?" Ruby was becoming rather fun to play with, and Christy couldn't deny she was curious. "Well 007, what would you like to drink?"

Christy chuckled at the nickname she'd earned, because it was eerily appropriate. Well, why not hide out in the open, she thought with some amusement. "Lemonade, you going to squeeze that for me Red?" Christy put as much innuendo into her words as possible and smiled when she made the waitress laugh.

"I'm not squeezing your lemons." Ruby walked away, chuckling, to get the drink.

Christy was busy watching the waitress and debating about making an offer, so when the young boy slipped into the seat across from her it startled her. Christy stared at the young boy as he stared back at her. "Who are you?" He whispered. "Are you here to help with the curse? You know about it don't you?"

She was unsure if she should admit to knowing anything, but given how she'd already acted with Red, it wasn't a lie she could keep up. "Kid, you act like she's the only villain in town and everyone else is innocent. It's not true. Don't go around trusting just about anyone else, because they aren't her. You're safe with her, and I can't say the same for other people."

Christy looked up to see Ruby giving her a surprised look as she was filling up a glass for Christy. Christy returned the look with a shrug, unable to explain why the kid sat with her. "You know about the curse."

"Yes." Christy spoke firmly, seeing the excitement growing in his eyes.

"There are some of us who are trying to stop the Evil Queen, I call it Operation Cobra." He spoke faster, his voice no longer a whisper. He was playing at spy and Christy sighed at the poor job he did. "We need all the help we can get. She killed Graham last night, I know she did."

"Kid," Christy interrupted. "You don't even know who I am. You act like there can only be one villain in this town. You need to be more cautious about who you trust. If you're handing out white hats and black hats, you'll find neither fit me." His face scrunched up in confusion and Christy softened her voice, recognizing he was much younger than she normally talked with. "You are picking out the heroes and the villains of this town, but most people are a mix of the two. I'm a mix, I'm a gray hat."

"Does your mother know you're sitting with strangers Henry?" Ruby asked as she sat the lemonade down in front of Christy and gave Henry a disapproving look. He was looking rather thoughtful and far less animated after her words. "How about I set you up with a hot chocolate at the counter?" Ruby offered.

"Kid, I'm not willing to face your mother if she sees you talking to a stranger she's never met. Go have your hot chocolate." Christy spoke up gently.

"You're not far off." Ruby spoke quietly as Henry gave Christy a long look, before moving to the counter. "Regina is already trying to run Emma out of town. She'd have no trouble expanding her efforts to include you. His mother," Ruby shook her head slowly. "What would you like to eat?"

Christy gave Ruby a teasingly long look, until the waitress' skin took on a hint of a blush. Once Christy got that she gave her real order.

Henry only kept his distance long enough for Christy to finish her burger and be halfway through with her fries when he looked around obviously and sat down across from her again. "Who are you?" He asked more firmly while staring at her.

"Christy Darkholme." She told him with a sigh, but she didn't expect his eyes to widen at her name. She stared intently at him when she got that odd response. His jaw had dropped and he stared at her in complete shock and she could see a hint of fear.

"The Queen of Death and Deception? The Cannibal Queen?" His words had her heart sinking. She'd like to deny it to herself, but he was clearly talking about her.

"What?" She asked in disbelief.

"You're the spy." He whispered in disbelief himself.

"Hey, leave my 007 alone." Ruby walked up and gave Henry a teasing smile, clearly having just heard the last words Henry said. "I believe I see Emma coming Henry, maybe she'll walk you home."

"007?" Henry asked while swallowing hard. Christy could see he wasn't sure of her at all anymore.

"Sure, she's my 007 and I'm her Red Riding Hood." Ruby joked, but that only had Henry's eyes getting bigger.

"You know?" He asked and Christy barely managed to not shake her head at his gullibility because he wanted people to believe him. Ruby had no idea what she'd walked into.

"They're just nicknames Henry." Christy muttered to the boy, giving him a subtle meaningful stare when Ruby wasn't looking at her.

"I should go." He stood up awkwardly. "Yes, I'll go." Christy wondered if she was done with that boy stalking her. She found she didn't like that he was stopping because she was 'scary'. She'd have to find the comic book store, or wherever he was getting his information, because clearly she'd made it into the comics in this world. As he left, she planned a whole new internet search she'd have to do to find out what he would know about her.


	2. Chapter 2

Her room didn't have a television, and sitting alone in the room all night wasn't something she thought she'd like to do tonight. The look on Henry's face when he realized who she was bothered her and she didn't want to spend all night thinking about it.

She slipped downstairs at the B&B and found the shared living room, with the television, at around eight that night. The show wasn't too interesting, but it gave her something to watch. Granny and Red were still at the diner, and Christy was the only guest at the moment. As the odd game show continued, Christy found herself worrying about the fact that her secrets were going to come out in this world, just like in the last, and it wouldn't take long at all. No one would believe Henry now, but after the curse broke people would start to wonder who Christy really was and the boy had the answers and an incredible need to be the center of attention. Christy was pretty confident that her story was graphic and detailed in this world, the names Henry called her were hint enough, and she was going to have to face judgment. It was tempting to just start over somewhere else rather than deal with this again, but Annie's power influenced her jump and put her here and that meant there was hope and probably a reason to stick it out. The difference this time was she knew it was coming, and Christy ignored the fact that the TV show ended and another began as she considered that. She knew it was coming, and the curse was breaking, how could she use that?

Forty minutes later the front door opened and Christy looked over to see Ruby giving the room Christy was in a curious look. "Oh, hi." Ruby smiled at her. "Sorry, not used to having someone in the main room. Most people stay a night and keep to the bedroom." Ruby looked tired and her feet were probably hurting with the shoes she was wearing, Christy noticed as the woman slipped into the room and sat down heavily in the chair. "What you watching?"

"I don't know." Christy told her honestly and sighed, before lying. "I'm switching around trying to find something." She'd been lost in thought for a while now as she came up with a strategy for dealing with this world and these people. She did not want to be locked up or run out of town right along with Regina when the curse broke and that was going to take planning on her part to avoid.

Christy gave Red a glance, and watched the woman tug a shoe off and rub her foot with a hint of amusement, because the waitress could pick more sensible shoes and wasn't doing that, in spite of being a waitress for a long time. "Do you have a computer? The library didn't have one."

"The B&B doesn't have one, but I have a laptop." Ruby tugged her other shoe off.

"I need to borrow it." Christy had to find out what this world knew about her, and she had to see how bad it was. "I might even need to borrow a credit card, but I can pay cash. I just don't have any cards."

"Well you sure aren't shy about asking for things." Ruby frowned at her a little.

Christy grinned flirtatiously. "I'll rub your feet for a week when you get back from work if I can have your laptop while you're at work and you use your card to buy me a few things. I worked as a masseuse for a while, I know what I'm doing."

"Now we're playing Let's make a Deal?" Ruby leaned forward in the chair and gave Christy a hint of a smile.

"I can recognize a desperate sole." Christy pointed to Ruby's feet and teased. Ruby did chuckle.

"Granny would kill me if I handed over my credit card, even if, for some crazy reason, I trust you."

"I could just bookmark the stuff I want and you could buy it when you get home." Christy offered. She expected she'd be buying comic books, and there wasn't a need to hide that. Depending on how those were written, she might actually need to try and get someone to read them before the curse broke. If she could explain herself, in explaining a 'fictional character', maybe it would get around the problem of people not wanting to listen when it was real. She just had to pray that Annie's luck power would include at least a few stories where she wasn't portrayed like a complete villain. Based on Henry's response to her, she knew there were some stories where she wasn't the hero, but then she rarely ever got to play the hero.

"Okay, you have a deal 007." Ruby grinned wickedly and put both feet up on the ottoman. "Now let's see those magic fingers."

Christy moved to sit on the floor in front of the ottoman, ignoring her lack of oils, and firmly took one foot into her hands. She'd had a mission where the best way to get close to the target was to pose as a masseuse, and she'd been stationed there for a month. Her knowledge of anatomy was morbidly earned, but she knew how to use it. Ruby groaned as Christy pressed her thumbs into the sole of her left foot. It was a sexy sound and Christy smirked as she decided to try and get that sound out of Ruby often in this next week. It made doing a massage much more interesting.

"I work the early shift tomorrow. We could hit the town tomorrow night, and I'll show you what little there is to do for fun around here." Ruby muttered as Christy switched to her right foot.

"Sounds good." Christy said before giving the foot in her hand a slight smirk as she pushed just right to get that groan out of Ruby again.

"The men in this town are going to drool over you." Ruby said once the massage wasn't as intense.

"But I'm not interested in men." Christy admitted and watched Ruby's face, seeing a wicked smile cross her lips even as the waitress had her head leaning back on the chair and her eyes closed.

"This little town isn't a lesbian paradise. Maybe you'd be happier in a city like New York. I don't even know if there are ladies that swing your way here." Ruby's eyes opened and she studied Christy with a teasing smile, "So tell me, 007, are you a James Bond with the ladies too?"

"I can be." Christy admitted, while taking in the woman in front of her. "I can also last all night, which I think has James Bond beat."

The front door opened again and Christy was rolling Ruby's toes gently in her massage when the older woman stepped into the room. "What is going on in here?" Granny sounded baffled and unsure how to act.

"Granny, Christy is a masseuse. I say we rent that room to her forever." Ruby leaned back in the chair, completely unashamed looking, in spite of the odd look on Granny's face.

"Oh, well then." The woman looked a little awkward. "You open in the morning Ruby, you asked for that shift, so you might want to get to bed."

Ruby gave a sexy groan and pulled her foot away from Christy. "I'll drop the computer off in the morning." Ruby told her with a smile and then wandered out of the room with her shoes in her hand, leaving Christy on the floor looking up at Granny.

"Masseuse?" The older woman asked skeptically.

"One of the many jobs I've held." Christy told her while standing, using the ottoman that she'd been sitting in front of to help her up slowly.

"Okay then." Granny watched Christy's back as Christy made her way upstairs, but she didn't say anything about touching her granddaughter, so that was something.

….

The next morning, there was a knock on her door and Christy shifted some pajamas on before opening it. The laptop was handed to her with a wink and Ruby continued down the hall. "I'm late. Have fun 007."

"You too Red. See you for breakfast in a few." Christy smiled when that only got a backward wave, that proved to her Ruby was running really late. She pulled the laptop into her room to get started. She'd looked like she was sleeping so she'd need to kill at least a half hour if she didn't want questions about how quickly she got ready, maybe even an hour. Still, other than meals, Christy was going to be in her room for the day doing research on herself for the first time.

…

Henry POV

Henry's eyes burned a little as he blinked, so he blinked a few more times, but he didn't look away from the computer screen. He'd heard about Christy Darkholme in his comics, and he'd seen the covers of a few comics he wasn't allowed to buy, the adult kind, with her on them as well. Last night he'd looked through all his comics for what he could of her, but it wasn't like his 'book'. It just had bits and pieces about her. He knew she was a spy and she'd killed people. He knew she worked with the villain Mystique. He even had a comic where she'd gone behind the xmen's back and assassinated someone they were trying to save, even though the guy was a jerk. She was so good she hadn't been caught. He considered her a traitor, but reading the bits and pieces about her on the internet made him wonder. Apparently she was told to do those things by the Professor, he told her to be a bad guy. It didn't make sense, because the Professor was a good guy, he was supposed to be, but he was in charge of the bad guys as well?

Henry found a website that listed all the comics that Christy 'Darkholme' featured in. It turned out that she wasn't Mystique's sister, which he'd assumed she was. Darkholme wasn't even her real last name. She wasn't even from the same world as the Xmen, she was from somewhere that was destroyed. He'd never really looked into her character that much before, she was a minor character in the comics he read. He didn't get to read the Xmen's full series, just the team up comics that the convenience store had.

A search for comics about 'Demise' came up with a good size list but Henry felt his heart speed up when he found the listing on Ebay. It was a bundle, even called the "Demise is a sexy goddess" bundle. He looked at the list of comics that were a part of it and it had most of the list he'd seen earlier, even the Origins series about her. The time remaining for bidding had his heart sinking.

"Oh no." He had minutes left to bid. He didn't have an account with ebay or a credit card but he knew where his mother kept her card and her passwords.

He quickly and quietly ran down the stairs to try and see if he could sneak into her home office to get both the card and password, and grimaced when he saw the door closed.

"You are just telling me this now!" Her voice was angry and cold and Henry slowly moved a little closer to listen in. "A stranger in our town, MY town, and you waited two days to tell me? I thought you were a newsman Sydney, surely a stranger is news."

"Well, with the Sherriff's death I had to run the memorial article about him, and she's been pretty quiet. I didn't think…" The deeper masculine voice was exactly the one Henry expected to hear.

"No you didn't think, did you Sydney? You did not think!" Henry grimaced at the anger in her voice, glad that it was Sydney that spilled about Christy first, because he didn't want to imagine the scolding he'd have gotten for talking to Christy now. "So what have you learned about her?"

"Her name is Christy Darkholme." Sydney sounded scared. "And I'm researching her now. She's staying at Granny's B&B."

"So nothing, you know nothing."

"I overheard Granny saying that she plans to move here permanently."

The room became silent and Henry moved a little closer to the door to try and listen harder.

"Move here. Another outsider moving here." Henry imagined the Evil Queen was pretty stunned that her curse wasn't keeping Emma or Christy out, but while Emma had driven across the town line, Christy just appeared in the middle of the town with her powers. "Sydney, I want you to find out everything you can about her, don't even bother sleeping until you can give me something." The door opened suddenly, and Henry jerked back as Sydney rushed out to do his mother's bidding.

"Henry, is your homework done?" She tried to trick him by calming down quickly, but he knew better.

"Yeah, done." He looked at the clock on the wall and let out a disappointed breath. He'd missed the deadline to bid.

Once he went back up to turn off the computer for now, as he wasn't allowed to use it very much, he saw that wolfrider had the winning bid and that he or she had gotten it for cheap. He growled in frustration quietly before grabbing his comics to read again. He'd have to wait and try again later for some comics, because his mother was not leaving her office. She was on the phone trying to find out anything about Christy and she was never going to find anything if Henry was right.

He almost wondered if he should warn Christy that Sydney was looking into her, but why warn a bad guy? The articles about Christy online were split, people couldn't even agree on if she was a bad guy or not, but the things they said she did were horrible, things that the bad guys in his fairy tales did. She ate people like the witch in the ginger bread house, she killed people, she lied and stole, but then she'd saved people, she'd risked her life, and she always tried to protect the people she cared about. She was capable of love, everyone agreed on that one, and one article said something about selling her body for the Professor and while he didn't understand what that meant it was clear it wasn't a good thing. If she wasn't a bad guy, she'd had it rough and that wasn't right. He needed those comics to know what she was, because the adults writing about her couldn't agree. He'd have to try again tomorrow, or even late tonight after his mother went to bed.

"Henry?" He looked up to see his mother looking into his room with a little disgust at the way comics were all over the bed. "I was thinking we could go out to eat tonight. It's apple pie night at Granny's." She smiled at him as if it was a treat, but he knew that the Evil Queen was trying to get a glimpse of Christy and with Christy staying at the B&B she'd be having dinner at the diner as well.

Still, now with some of this new information he'd learned about her, he wanted to get another look at Christy himself. She'd been right, she was a 'gray hat' and he didn't know if that made her trustworthy or worse than evil. Some of the comments online made him a little hopeful that she wasn't evil and that perhaps she could still be an ally in Operation Cobra. Emma was stuck, she wasn't even trying to find a way to break the curse yet, but Henry couldn't wait to see her and tell her that someone in town knew as well now. Maybe Emma could interrogate Christy and find out how to break the curse from her. Christy knew about the curse, she got passed it to end up in town. He needed to know what she knew. "Sure. Sounds good." He gave a weak smile back and ignored the slightly surprised look on the Evil Queen's face, before she nodded.

"Alright, get cleaned up and put on your shoes and we can leave."

…..

Christy pov

Christy slipped into the diner with Red for a late dinner before heading out for a night of dancing with Red and her friends, who Christy hadn't learned the names of yet. Apparently it was the welcoming committee taking her out and Christy expected a bit of an interrogation.

"Comics, really?" Red teased her again. "I always thought as soon as I moved to a new city the first thing I'd need to buy is comics about some sexy spy character."

"Hey, I'm not dating anyone yet. I need something to do with my nights." Christy joked a little and wiggled her eyebrows at the waitress. It was a little creepy, but Red had no idea who those comics were really about yet, she just knew that half of them were considered too adult for kids.

"Sad, truly sad." Red shook her head and led them to a booth that was opened in the busy diner. "What you want? I'll put the order in."

"It's your night off." That didn't get the waitress sitting down so Christy sighed and gave Ruby her order and then relaxed and glanced around as Ruby grabbed a ticket from behind the counter and wrote it down for the chef.

Because she was looking around she saw the brunette in very sharp looking clothes stand up and tell the little boy that Christy recognized to finish his dessert before heading toward the booth with Christy in it. This had to be the Mayor, Christy thought with a glance toward the counter to see Ruby was still giving directions to the cook. "I don't believe we've met." A deep and surfacely friendly sounding voice spoke and Christy looked back up to see Regina standing at the end of her table. "I'm the mayor around here, Regina Mills." A hand was held out for her, so Christy took it and shook it politely.

"Christy Darkholme." Christy gave the mayor a rueful smile. "I don't have a job to tell you about just yet."

"Just yet, so you're planning on finding work here?" There was a hint of fishing in those words and Christy was pretty sure the mayor had heard Christy planned to stay.

"I'm moving in." Christy stared into brown eyes. "This town seems just like what I need."

"It is a great town, I'm very proud of it, but sadly with the economy the way it has been the job market here isn't what I would like." The mayor spoke slowly, and Christy pretended not to get the message behind those words. "I hope you're prepared for a lengthy job search."

"Oh, I'm resourceful. I can make what I have stretch long enough to make my own niche here." Christy gave a fake looking smile to the mayor.

"What kind of work do you do Ms. Darkholme?"

"Oh, she's an amazing masseuse." Red spoke up with a hint of a smile as she brought their plates to the table. "Madame Mayor." She nodded to the woman in the way and slipped the plates onto the table and slide into her own seat easily. "Right now I'm her only customer."

"Masseuse?" There was a hint of a smirk on the mayor's lips and Christy could see she was being underestimated. "Well, good luck finding work in that Ms. Darkholme." Regina nodded to Red, "Ms. Lucas.", before she left.

"Wow, that was almost as tense as her conversations with Emma."

"So you know masseuse is only one of my potential careers here, right?"

"Yet you're so talented at it I don't want to see you waste that. You could make money doing that." Red smirked. "And meet girls, lots of girls."

"Giving 'happy endings' in a massage is illegal my dear, fun, but very illegal." Christy grinned wickedly when Red's jaw dropped.

"Oh my god, have you done that?"

"Not to paying customers, but I did have a girlfriend visit my work a time or two." Christy remembered Mystique coming in to find out her progress on a case and Christy let that massage go a bit further than normal.

"Oh my," Red grinned widely and her face was a hint red. "What's part of a 'happy ending'?"

"What's a lesbian?" Henry asked as they were getting close to the door and Christy looked up to see Regina looked a little flustered, as she glared at some man sitting in the booth behind Red. It was obvious he'd said the word where the kid could overhear.

Regina's eyes moved to catch Christy looking at her and Christy mouthed 'sorry'. "Well apparently that's what Ms. Darkholme is dear. Let's talk about this later."

"With that out and about I might not be able to make that masseuse career you think I have go." Christy said with a sigh and took a drink from her beer.

"Don't be so sure, the novelty of it in this town might make you very busy." Ruby teased. "In fact, what does it cost to book you for tomorrow after work?"

"I'm already rubbing your feet tomorrow."

"But I've never had a full, proper massage." Ruby's expression was teasing, but Christy got the impression that the waitress was interested in the novelty of it.

"Dollar a minute." Christy made that rate up on the spot. She had two women booked before they left the diner, Ruby and the waitress running the tables that night. Christy was pretty sure that girl was Cinderella. It was a little stunning how that money fell into her lap and Christy decided to blame both Red and Annie's powers for it. Apparently Christy was going to be a masseuse here.

"Are you sure Granny won't be upset with my running a business out of my bedroom?" Christy asked with a hint of a smirk.

"As long as you don't word it that way when you tell her." Ruby chuckled as she held the door open to her car for Christy.

"I guess I'll see if there is a massage table on sale around here somewhere." Christy sighed and considered that she wasn't going to make enough money with this job, but considering the source of it, perhaps she would. Actually, if she could just line up three hours a day of clients, for four or five days, she'd survive pretty well. The problem is the size of the clientele she'd need for that, because people didn't go daily for massages.

She was actually going to run a business out of her bedroom. Christy chuckled at that thought. She'd have to buy some clothes to put in the closet, in case anyone got nosy and she didn't catch them. The room was large enough, and if she found a massage table it would easily fit into the room. She wouldn't have to do this on the bed she slept in, which was good, because the message this was sending clients was already a bit scandalous, since there was a bed in the room. She'd have to be very clear what the limits of a massage were, unless she was tempted to go beyond them with someone.

One very good part of this new job was that she was going to be the harmless, helpful, woman that made people feel good. It would be harder for the people of this town to turn on her if she'd been that woman before the curse broke. The woman whose shoulder they could cry on, the woman that helped them with their lives, the one they go do for advice, it all could grow out of this and Christy could build her own safety with this new cover. Physical and emotional therapist; she found her job, and the lack of job listings and the control the mayor and Mr. Gold had over that, wouldn't interfere with going into a business like this for herself.

…

"So you're the one that the Mayor is bugging me about." The blonde woman at the table said with a smile as Christy sat down.

"Right, 007 this is Emma, she's the Deputy." Red frowned just a little, but then her eyes moved to the other woman at the table, "And this is Mary Margaret."

"007?" Mary Margaret's eyebrow rose and Christy held a hand out.

"Ruby's idea of a nickname. Christy Darkholme." She noticed that Emma sat up a little straighter when Christy said that. It took her training not to grimace when Christy suspected that Emma's ability to tell when someone was lying might actually be a superpower, like she claimed, Emma's own brand of magic. If it were just experience, Christy was a good enough spy to say that name and not have it set off alarms in Emma's head. Christy would have to be careful what she said from here out. "The name is actually pronounced Darkhome, but I like it my way better, and people spell it right when I say it that way. It sounds like a house without electricity otherwise." Christy grinned as she dodged that moment of doubt from Emma.

"Darkholme like Mystique from that Xmen First Class movie?" Emma teased and Christy felt a bit startled for a moment, she didn't know the movie, but she knew the woman.

"Exactly." Christy nodded. Mystique had given Christy that name to help Christy protect her real identity. It was the fake identity that Christy used most often. Christy took a moment to study Emma while the blonde took a deep drink from her glass and she could tell the soon to be Sheriff wasn't sleeping well.

"I didn't know you watched superhero movies Emma." Mary Margaret teased.

"I don't, a mark I was following went into that movie and I had to sit through it. Wasn't too bad, but I was mostly watching him." Emma replied.

"Aw, Henry will be disappointed. He loves his comics as much as he loves his fairy tales." Mary Margaret, his teacher, joked, but Christy did not find that funny or good news at all.

Ruby's chuckled. "Well, 007 here loves comics too. Maybe they can bond over it."

"I don't think so." Christy muttered and took the drink being offered her. "So this is the nightspot here?" She glanced around to see the club wasn't too bad, compared to clubs she'd seen around the world. "Not too bad."

"Yeah, for here." Ruby grumbled a little.

"Actually it's not too bad for anywhere." Emma replied and Christy nodded. "Where are you from?" Emma focused on her again.

"I was a wanderer. My job was a lot of traveling and I stayed in hotels all over the world. I didn't have a home address." Her answer had Mary Margaret leaning in with a small smile.

"Where have you been?" The schoolteacher asked.

"Ugh, where haven't I been?" Christy sighed and glanced up as she made a mental list to share. "I've been to every country in Europe, half of the countries in South America, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt and South Africa." Crimes against mutants were worldwide, so the fact she had such a list was actually a sad thing. She'd been all over that world fighting.

"Oh my god." Ruby spoke loudly and slowly, her eyes wide as she stared at Christy.

Christy smirked at the obviously impressed look, knowing that Red wished she was a traveler. "I told you I traveled a lot for my work. I spent ten years of my life on the move."

"What did you do for a living? I move around a lot, but nothing like that." Emma asked.

"Classified." Christy teased, but no lie would work so she was sticking with that.

"Oh my god, have you seen Paris?" Ruby asked a little breathlessly.

"Yes, it's nice there, but I think the ruins of Italy were more beautiful." Christy remembered seeing those old ruins and wondering if they still existed in her world. They might have survived the asteroid, since it appeared to have landed in the United States. "Paris was in the middle of a rainy period when I was there."

Her words turned the interrogation into a direction she could handle. Christy spent an hour talking about the travels she'd taken, while never talking about the work she did to travel around like that.

"So what are you planning to do here?" Emma asked, sounding a bit puzzled at Christy picking this place to live.

"Well, apparently I'm starting to do work as a masseuse tomorrow." Christy told them. "I did that for a while, and Red here assures me I can make my fortune in it."

"Red?"

"Little Red Riding Hood, isn't that cute?" Ruby explained. "She calls me Red." Ruby moved to get them another round of drinks, her waitress background showing up in how often she decided she was the one that needed to get the refills.

"Met Henry did you?" Mary Margaret nibbled on her lips, while Emma just grimaced.

"We're keeping that on the down low. I don't want trouble with the mayor. That boy is a stalker." Christy sighed and felt a little bad doing this to the little kid, but she was doing it anyhow. "He LOVES strangers, and I'm glad he lives here, because he would have been kidnapped in a city with that attitude."

"Oh god. Did he tell you who he thought you were in the book?"

"Why no Snow White, he didn't get to that." Christy teased the teacher, while also lying blatantly. Mary Margaret knew who Henry thought she was, but had no idea she really was Snow White.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom before Ruby gets back with those drinks." Mary Margaret blushed and got up to help Red, who was flirting a lot with the bartender.

"Who did he say you were?" Emma spoke more softly, and scooted into Red's open chair to ask. It was clear proof to Christy that Emma's powers worked on her, but Christy was just going to be more careful and she could make that work for her as well.

"I'm the Queen of Death." Christy admitted quietly, because he'd undoubtedly tell Emma at some point soon. "And I wasn't too fond of the titles he says I have."

"I'm so sorry." Emma looked like a child herself in that moment, when she scrunched up her face in regret. "He's got an active imagination and he's in therapy. Dr Hopper says we shouldn't squash his imagination as he works through this."

"It's fine." Christy sighed. "I understand." And she did, more than Emma did. "Still, I think he might stop following me around now. You didn't see his face once he 'realized' who I was."

"I don't know how he came up with that." A warm hand rested over the hand Christy had on the table.

"I share a name with the character." And every word was true, and yet Christy was working to undermine the boy once he started talking. Poor kid was playing spies against a professional. "She's actually one of my favorite comic characters, so I know exactly who he thinks I am."

"A comic book?" Emma's eyes widened. "But everyone else is a fairy tale character."

"Well, I am from out of town." Christy rolled her eyes and gave Emma a weak smile. Red danced to the table and set the glasses down.

The rest of the night was fun, they joked and drank, and Christy pretended that the alcohol affected her. Before they left Mary Margaret was talked into making a massage appointment by a very forceful salesperson, Red. Emma was still holding out though.

Right before bed Christy jotted down the appointment times she had with people and made plans to shop for a massage table, oils, and an appointment calendar in the morning. It was late and as she pulled the sheets back on the bed she found herself laughing just a little. "I'm going to be massaging two princesses and Red Riding Hood. Man, I wish I could tell Mystique about this one." She could just imagine the teasing her mentor, her best friend, would have about this cover. Especially since Snow White and Red were way hotter than they seemed from Disney, way hotter.

Christy's smile faded as she considered the differences from the show, and how both Red and Snow were much meeker here, more unsure of themselves. It kind of reminded her of herself before the world fell apart. It was a sad reminder to Christy that everyone was a result of their experiences, and how no matter how much time she put into getting to know these people, she'd end up having to redo it all after the curse broke.

….

Christy woke up relatively early, in spite of the late night. She rolled out of bed and picked up the hotel stationary to start working on her list for today. She had shopping to do, both for her new business and for the room so it looked like she actually owned somethings. Red would probably take a look in her closet, and there needed to be some clothes in there.

Once the list was made she pulled the cash box that came through the portal with her out from under the bed to take a look at it and see if she could use it for her own business. If she didn't destroy the lock when she broke it opened it would still work. The silver metal box was the size of a large shoe box and Christy laid it on the bed beside her while she carefully inspected the lock. It looked good. She'd need to make a key to fit it, or at least pretend fit it.

Counting out money she placed just enough cash in the box to make change, and she pulled out the papers that had been left it in. Invoices for credit card purchases and a tally sheet with the guys inventory were stuffed in the lid, so she tossed those into the garbage. She then pulled the cash tray up and took a look at the black bank bag underneath it. When she pulled it out from the box she could feel something slide around inside it. Thinking she might have something useful Christy unzipped the bag and frowned as she pulled a small stack of DVD's out of the bag, along with a few thumb drives labeled "Once".

There were 6 dvd's without any case in her hand and Christy imagined that some packaging was damaged and the booth owner just shoved the dvd's in here for safe keeping. She flipped the stack over and her eyes widened in shock. "Oh my god, Annie, what have you done?" Staring back at her from her hand was the first DVD in a season of Once Upon a Time.

Christy put them back in the black bag and did the most secure thing she could think of with them. She created a pocket in her body and slipped them inside her chest, because she couldn't risk these getting out for any reason. Something new was added to her list of things to do today and Christy was going to have to see if she could make time to see some of these today on Red's laptop. She couldn't watch them in the TV room where anyone could walk in on her, but this was the second season and Christy hadn't seen any of that. There would have to be something useful to know in there, or the sheer craziness of the luck wouldn't have happened. Annie's powers thought she needed this information. If she still had a real heart it would have been pounding right next to the DVD bag she'd placed in her chest.

Christy shifted clothes on quickly at that point, because she had little time to waste if she wanted to see some of these shows before her appointment with Red that afternoon. Her to do list was already very large, and her deal with Red for the laptop was only for this week. Christy still had to create a fake identity, something she wasn't that good at and she could only do a basic identity, nothing that would stand up to much scrutiny. That would take a few days with the laptop all by itself.

She walked into the diner just five minutes after deciding she needed to rush her day along. Ruby was wearing sunglasses in the morning and Christy chuckled when she saw that. "Hangover bothering you?"

"How are you fine? That's just not fair." Ruby sighed heavily and plopped the menu down on the table in front of Christy.

"I never get hangovers." Christy rubbed it in, and laughed at the disgusted look she received right before Red walked away, as if in protest. She came back eventually and Christy put in her breakfast order.

Christy ignored the rest of the newspaper for now and focused on the help wanted pages and the for sale pages. No job was standing out, but Christy almost chuckled out loud to see a massage table and massage chair set being sold. Annie's powers were stronger than Christy would have expected by a transfer, she hadn't even expected they'd have transferred at all if it weren't that Annie's power was luck. "Ruby?" She asked when the waitress stopped writing down the order of the people in the booth beside her. "Can I borrow your car to pick up something?"

"My car now?" Ruby moved to stand in front of her table and shook her head in what was apparently supposed to be disbelief. "My computer, my car, what next?"

"Your body?" Christy smirked evilly at the waitress. "But seriously, I see a massage table on sale and you want me to have it. I know you do. You're lined up for a massage at 4 and I want to make sure it's in good working order and all cleaned up for you."

"Oh, so this is for me." Ruby rolled her eyes. "How could I say no now?"

"I know." Christy made her eyes really wide, like a child and nodded up and down slowly. "You have to give me your car now. You just gotta."

"Here." Ruby tugged her keys out from her pocket. "You better not scratch it."

"I won't." Christy took the keys with a real smile and tucked them into her own pocket. "I'm getting some oils and candles. Do you like any specific scents?"

"Lavender." Ruby replied before wandering off to drop her orders off with the kitchen.

Christy's smile faded a little as she stared at the ad again. She didn't need to call, because it was a company ad. She was going to Mr. Gold's Pawn Shop. He apparently used these ads to drum up customers, and Christy was a little apprehensive about introducing herself to him right now.

At least without magic, he couldn't reach into her chest and take anything out of it.


	3. Chapter 3

There was parking on the road and Christy took it carefully, making sure to honor her promise not the scratch the car. She stood in front of the pawn shop and took a deep breath, before moving forward to open the door. The one store she'd given a wide berth to was now the one she was walking into with a purpose.

The place was full of odd items, but seeing things she'd recognized from the show kept Christy's guard up. She walked past Gepetto's cursed parents, in the form of dolls and slowly started to browse. Rumplestiltskin had kept a lot of his own things here, and things he seemed to have taken from others. Looking around at the odd selection of things, Christy wondered how much the people in the town needed these things, or would need them.

The answer came to her when she came across a red piece of fabric that had Christy pause. Her hand reached out and she pulled it off the shelf and slowly unfolded it to find she had a cloak in her hands. "Oh Red," Christy thought to herself and her hands gripped it a little more tightly.

"Are you interested in clothing? I have more in the back." A man's voice spoke up, but Christy had heard him come up front from the back. Christy looked up to see his eyes widened as he looked at her.

Christy gave a small smile. "Actually, I do need some clothes, but I came about your ad for a massage table and chair."

"A stranger in our little town, how interesting." He tilted his head a little to the left and studied her. Christy forced herself to blush at the obvious staring, as if a bit shy. Her powers made a fake blush easy.

"Yes, well, I needed to get away from the crazy pace of my life and a small town seemed like the perfect way to do it." She glanced around his shop, "You have an amazing selection of things here."

"I do manage to gather a good collection." He told her. "I'm Mr. Gold, I own this place." He said it firmly and Christy knew he meant the town, not just the store, but without her background knowledge of the place she wouldn't know that so she purposely misunderstood.

"Well, I hope I can find what I need here. You didn't sell the table and chair yet did you?" She folded the cloak up and put it back onto the shelf. It would be too suspicious to hold onto it like it was valuable in anyway. She needed to leave with that thing today though, because anyone could buy it and it meant something to Red. Christy thought she remembered it helped Red control her wolf and the curse wasn't going to last much longer. Red would need it and she didn't want the werewolf making any deals with this man.

"No, no, I just opened the store. You're my first customer today." He stepped back a little, his cane making a rhythmic thumping on the floor and Christy followed him into the back room.

The table was folded up and in the case and the chair was out and assembled. Both were portable, meant for a transient masseuse and not a spa. As she looked over the chair she was very aware that he was staring at her. She adjusted some settings, making sure the chair worked well and she sat in it to see that it held her weight. She opened up the carrying case and glanced at the table. It looked to be in good working order, but Christy was going to gamble with her luck working and not verify that herself, here, she'd check it in her room. "How much for both?"

"Well, I wouldn't want to alienate a new customer. It's so rare I get one." He leaned on his cane with both arms. "I'm thinking $300 for the set."

Christy smirked a little. "I could order from out of town and get brand new for that." She'd looked that much up. "Good try. I'll pay $125 for the set, and get these bulky things out of your way. From what I hear I'm the only masseuse in town. Whoever sold you these didn't go on to build a business."

"Well, someone that does their homework." He seemed to nod his head at her, as if complimenting her. They haggled for a while longer and Christy paid $200, but had that 'pretty fabric' tossed in. Christy made him believe it would be a nice cloth to drape over the window to soften the light in the room. Basically she was claiming to want to use Red Riding Hood's cloak for interior design. She was a bit irritated that he actually sold it to her, knowing what that cloak really meant to Red, but Christy intended to have it available for Red after the curse broke.

"I could have the table and chair delivered. Where are you staying?" He pried smoothly as she was paying and Christy knew lying wouldn't work, he could easily get his answer. He probably already knew it, because Granny's was the only place to stay in town if you weren't living with someone.

"I'm at Granny's for now, until I find a place, but I borrowed a car to pick it up. Thanks anyhow." She glanced toward the front doors. "I'm just parked outside."

"Oh, so you're staying and looking for a place to live?" He walked alongside her as she carried the cloak and the table to the car. He wasn't offering to help with the chair, but then he actually needed that cane. It could be he couldn't help. Christy just couldn't shake the feeling he might be choosing not to help. "I own a lot of the rentals around here. I'm afraid openings are very rare."

"Oh, I can be patient." Christy opened the trunk and slid the table in, putting the cloak in on top of it. She leaned on the car and smiled at him. "Thanks for the warning though." It was more likely him trying to warn her off. She was the wild card here, and he didn't look too pleased. Christy knew there was one recent vacancy, wherever the Sheriff must have lived. Mr. Gold wasn't mentioning that one. "All else fails I can move in with someone." She chuckled, knowing that had worked for Emma, and locked the trunk before going back in for the chair, not risking theft of that cloak for even a moment. She didn't want him to think she was desperate, because she wasn't. If she had to buy a tent and live in the woods, she'd manage. She was not letting this man make any deals with her.

She left his store with directions to where she might find the type of clothes she might actually wear, because he had a collection of 'Renaissance clothing and Ball gowns." She was also given ideas of where to get oils and candles. He played at being friendly, and the average person might have actually believed it. In the rearview mirror she could see him staring after her as she drove away.

Christy had mixed feelings about a few of the people in this town, based on the episodes of the show she'd seen, but if she had to hand out black hats and white hats like Henry did, Rumplestiltskin would not have the biggest, blackest hat in the store. That hat would go to Cora as far as Christy was concerned, but that still didn't mean he couldn't be horribly dangerous, and he was here and Cora wasn't, thank god.

As far as Christy was concerned, the 'villains' in this world were not all evil like the little boy wanted to believe, but some were closer than others. The heroes were also not squeaky clean. Christy had seen true evil, had killed it in her last world at every opportunity. Even this curse everyone was under was a weak punishment, barely a curse, compared to the hell Christy had seen people inflict on mutants. If Rumplestiltskin and Regina really wanted to create a 'horrible' life for everyone they could have done a much better job of it. Hell, Christy saw people smile more often in this 'hell on earth' in the few days she was here than in the years she spent breaking up the concentration camps and secret government prisons of the last world. True misery was clearly in short supply.

Christy pushed that line of thinking away as she pulled up to the first store on her list of stores to visit. She wasn't even going to try on clothes, she'd just look to see what they looked like and buy them. She'd not actually wear these anyhow, just make her own 'outfits' match a few so that it looked like she did. It was another reason looking at the Value Village was fine. Christy still needed her money so she wasn't wasting it, and she needed clothes that she could claim she'd had for a while.

When Christy got to the B&B shortly before lunch she parked Red's car out front and grabbed her bags of clothes, sheets and pillows for the massage table, oils, candles and a small collection of relaxation music CD's and got out. Her hands were loaded down as she made her way to the front porch, so she couldn't take the table or chair right away without looking inhumanly strong. That proved to be a good thing, because as Christy got close to the front door it opened and Granny stood there, staring at Ruby's car and then at Christy for a long tense moment before holding the door opened for her.

"Hey, thanks." She smiled at Granny, but there was definitely an aura of disapproval in the older woman's face. "I had to do some shopping and Ruby let me borrow her car." Christy set the bags down on the check in counter inside the door and turned to face the older woman. Her voice became quieter. "I'm clearly going to have trouble finding work here. There aren't many job announcements. So, I bought a massage table and a chair and I'm going to return to my roots while I look." She lied smoothly about that. "Is that okay? I thought I could try and line up ten to fifteen hours of appointments a week. It will help me be able to afford to stay long enough to find full time work. My savings isn't endless."

"So you're thinking about running this business from my B&B?" Granny asked, her eyes studying Christy.

"My room actually. I might take the chair to larger businesses with a good number of employees to see about doing quickie massages during their lunch breaks, but most of the work will be in my room in the late afternoons to early evening." Christy could see Granny start to frown. "In exchange I could give you a weekly massage, or pay a bit more, but I plan to do my own laundry for this business and I really need this money to be able to stay. Hey, people might even come early or stay late to get a meal at your diner. We could even work out some sort of package deal for the B&B and a massage for people that stay at the B&B for romantic weekends. I'm sure there is some deal we can work out."

"Are you any good?" Granny asked and Christy could tell she'd said something to gain some interest.

"I have two appointments for later today. I could easily slip you in and you can decide." Christy smiled at the thoughtful look Granny had.

"The B&B isn't getting as much business as it should. If we had a 'package' relaxing getaway it could drum up business." The older woman admitted to what had gained her interest. "But having you do this out of a bedroom, that isn't the best idea. Hell, have you even thought about how you'd deal with requests for sexual favors? Someone is going to assume you're a whore."

Christy chuckled at that. "Wouldn't be the first time." Her smile was a little tight as she remembered how close to true that had been at times. "It's why I prefer female clients, but I just take extra time explaining to men what a massage consists of." Her voice dropped deeper and she leaned a little closer to the older woman. "And I know a surprising amount of self defense, so I'm pretty sure I'll be fine. I can incapacitate without damaging easily."

"You can do just about anything, can't you?" Granny let out a seemingly irritated breath, before going quiet and just staring at Christy. "Okay, you can do this, but if this becomes a problem I'll pull the plug. Also you need to work the weekends and do those 'package deals' for my customers. They get priority for this." It sounded like Granny was hiring her, which wasn't true because Christy was working for herself, but given the circumstances it wasn't worth even mentioning. They worked out a deal before Christy put her bags in her room.

As she was carrying the table in Granny stood at the base of the stairs. "I want you to look at something." Christy set the table down behind the counter and followed Granny down the hall on the first floor. "It would take a bit of work, but it would reduce the traffic in the halls if you end up with a full load of clients."

The hallway ended on a door and Granny opened it. A large room with a collection of bits of pieces of furniture and a wall that was only half painted was behind the door. Christy looked around to see it had a fireplace, and French doors to the outside somewhere. The curtains cut off the view a bit, but it looks like it was a garden out there.

"I was about to remodel this room when I had a heart attack. Haven't done anything with it since." Granny told her. "So Ms. 'I can do anything', you ever do any remodeling and decorating?"

Christy laughed. "As a matter of fact I did." Her kids had taught her how, before the Xmen, before the spying, she'd learned to put up walls and do work like that from Jon as they remodeled her house to fit so many new teenagers.

"Good, you clean this up and you can use this." Granny nodded. "You can put a screen up or something and keep your bedroom area separate from your work space. Marco could probably even make a nice screen for you." Granny motioned to one side of the room. "I'm thinking you can have your bed over there and the bathroom is over there too." Christy looked at the nook that could fit the bed and dresser and the doorway to the bathroom down there. It would feel like less space with the screen, but that could be made to be moveable to open the space up to the windows, because that nook had none.

"This is going to be a lot of work, and we've only worked out a month long stay." Christy glanced around. "Can I get a deal for a longer stay?"

"If this works out, I'll actually be pretty upset if you up and move out, but I'll have a suite in exchange so that's still good for the B&B. Think of this as a regular rental, I'll give you a longer term stay, like a lease, but the longest I can promise at a time is five months, and that's only if there are no problems." Granny sighed. "I can't hire you for this, and other than the remodeling, what you do in this room can't be any of my business. If you work for me then Mr. Gold will want a cut of your work, but if you're a freelancer that works out of your room, well if you were a writer you'd be able to work out of your room, so this isn't different." Granny proceeded to give Christy a free month to stay, if Christy could make it so that this room was where she could stay for that month. Christy was going to keep her current room and needed to get this one ready in less than a month. Granny had a modest budget for this, and that's why Christy was working for room and board and not pay. Granny needed to save for supplies and for professionals doing what Christy couldn't, the fine detail work. There shouldn't be a need for a plumber or electrician.

Granny left to make a call to Marco to get him to meet with Christy about this and Christy stood in the middle of the room looking around. Her voice was a whisper to the air. "Annie, thank you. Whatever you did, thank you." Her eyes watered a bit. This was the most like a home she'd had since she started working for the Professor, being a spy she never got to sit still for months, never got to get comfortable anywhere. Now she had a place and one she'd get to decorate and live in until the curse broke most likely, and hopefully even after.

The only bad news about the offer Christy got was that Granny wanted to talk about her plans for the room that afternoon. Christy got a tour of all the rooms of the B&B, and a talk about making the colors and style fit. It ate up any time Christy would have used to try and watch one of the DVD's she had safely tucked away.

At least getting the supplies would take a day or two, and Granny wanted to make sure Christy talked with Marco so that she could get Marco's opinion on what Christy could and couldn't do, so Christy was going to work like hell to set up her identity, watch as much of the DVD episodes as she could and basically barely leave the room for the next few days while she had the laptop.

She wasn't going to be able to make deals with Ruby endlessly for her belongings. Christy thought as she set up the massage table in her room. She'd need her own laptop, she could use it for any of her research, her business, she could use it to play relaxing massage music and to watch these DVDs as she needed.

At 3:30 she was mostly ready for Ruby and she sat down and counted the cash she had on hand, which was everything she had to her name at this point. It was against her need to plan for the future, but when Ruby knocked on the door at 3:45 Christy let her in and spoke softly. "I found a laptop I want to buy. I can give you cash, but do you have a credit limit like this?" Christy turned Ruby's computer to face her. It held a good, very compact computer, a case and a sound system to attach to it. Computers always needed to be portable. Christy knew this from her work as a spy and all the computers she watched Mystique break into that were left out and easily accessible. With an uncertain income and future, Christy wouldn't normally rush off to spend half of her money on a computer, but Annie's luck had been shocking in what it was doing for Christy, so Christy gambled that she'd be okay. Even if she wasn't, a shortage of money was far from the worst thing she'd ever dealt with in her life.

Ruby frowned. "Why do you need this now, you have mine."

"Because Granny's giving me the room downstairs if I remodel it and I'm starting a home business." Christy grinned at the wide smile that Ruby gave her at that news.

Once the purchase was done, Christy handed Ruby the money and Ruby pulled 70 dollars out of that stack to hand back. "For the massage." The girl smiled at her teasingly.

"Okay, down to business." Christy smiled and put the laptop up and out of the way, setting it to play the CD she had in it.

…

"Okay, you can undress to your comfort level and then lay face down on the table. I'll knock before coming back in." Christy told her and watched Ruby give her a somewhat sexy smile. "Under the sheet, remember that." Christy joked just a little before closing the door to let Ruby get ready.

Christy also took the time to put her do not disturb sign on the door, though Granny knew she was doing a massage at this time, just to be sure.

When she went back in she slowly moved to lift Red's legs and put the pillow under her knees. "So you wanted 70 minutes?" They'd agreed to 60, but Red paid for 70.

"No, that was a tip." Ruby spoke, her voice carrying even though the waitress was face down and was staring down through the donut shaped face cradle. "I know you'll earn it."

"Oh, but being able to touch your body is tip enough Ruby." Christy smirked as she moved the woman's hair to the side. Ruby had asked for a massage right after hearing about 'happy endings' and she was the one that seemed to like the novelty of the idea of a lesbian touching her. Christy was going to put her sexuality right out there for the woman.

Ruby's back was unveiled slowly and the waitress had chosen not to have a shirt or bra. Christy wasn't going to know if Ruby had her underwear on, but it was possible she was completely naked.

When Ruby spoke up softly, a slight happy groan in her voice her question wasn't one Christy could answer completely honestly. "How did you become a masseuse?"

"Sometimes things just fall into place." Christy spoke softly, keeping the relaxing air about the room, and it took a little effort because the truth was not as innocent as she was selling it as. "I had an interest in anatomy for a while, studied it hard, but it was an unexpected job offer that made me get a little training. I specialize in relaxation massages, but I can do a little trigger point and deep tissue. My fingers are strong enough I can do more massages in a day than other masseuses."

"Mmm, are they now?" Ruby's voice was flirtatious. "Did your girlfriend think they were?"

"Oh yes, Raven was very impressed by my hands, but it was my mouth she liked the best." Christy ran her thumbs in circles over Ruby's neck, working her hands up into her hair.

"You still with her?" Ruby asked after a moment.

"No, we went our separate ways."

"Family?" Ruby asked and Christy grimaced a little at the personal direction the questions were going. Last night at the bar she'd pushed the conversation into travel, but it looks like she didn't get away with it for long.

"None anymore." Christy sighed heavily. "I'm alone, it's why I can just pick up and move like I did."

"I'm sorry." Ruby sounded upset that she'd brought it up.

"It's okay. I'm rather used to it by now." Christy found a tense spot and started to work it gently. "But it's another reason I'm not upset about leaving my last job. That much traveling didn't give me time to create my own family and when I say I had a girlfriend, well, it was casual, because we saw each other a few times a year for several years."

"What did you do 007?" Ruby asked.

"Why, you already guessed it Red, I'm James Bond." Christy chuckled as if it were a joke.

"Cute, but really you can't tell me?"

"I have to wait a while. It might even be a year before I can tell you Red. I just don't know." Christy sighed and moved to press her fingers along the waitress' shoulder blades. "Then you'll see why I don't find the idea of living in this small town a problem. I'm actually a little excited about living here now, and having you as a friend already really helps."

"Aw, that's so sweet." Ruby crooned softly.

She went quiet for a few minutes. "Is this pressure okay?"

"It's wonderful." Ruby whispered out her answer.

"Good."

Christy worked Ruby's back and legs carefully, and she found some spots that needed extra work. She also couldn't help but notice how tone, firm, and strong the young woman's body was. She looked like the warriors that Christy fought alongside, women who trained their bodies constantly. Christy wasn't sure if that was a werewolf thing or if Red had been training before the curse and was stuck at her prime, but it was definitely her prime.

Forty minutes into the massage and Ruby was quiet and clearly relaxing, Christy moved to rest up against the side of the table with her hips. "You need to carefully and slowly flip over and slide down a little while I hold the sheet up so you can."

"This table is narrow."

"I won't let you fall." Christy spoke softly and she meant it.

The movement seemed to wake Ruby up to talking again, because once she was settled, she spoke softly. "This is really nice."

"Good." Christy smiled a little evilly. "Does puppy want her belly rubbed too?" That had Ruby opening her eyes and giving her a questioning look. "I have a towel to keep your breasts covered. Not everyone wants a gentle stomach massage, but I will do it if you want."

"I want everything." Ruby closed her eyes again and Christy's eyebrows rose up a bit, wondering how much Ruby meant that.

…

"Computer delivery." Was called into her room from the other side of the door in the morning, and Christy got up from the bed to answer it. Ruby gave her computer over with a sigh. "My credit card is just about maxed."

"I have other things to do, besides shopping." Christy held the computer carefully. "Thank you for this, for everything really. Starting a new life isn't easy, but you're really helping."

"I think you're crazy moving here, but I like having you around." Ruby winked at her and then moved to take the stairs and leave for work. Christy watched her move for a little while, taking in the energy and happiness. It was nice that Ruby was defying the curse as well as she did. She didn't have that gloomy air about her that Mary Margaret did.

Christy locked her door and set the computer on the table. Her fingers pushed into her chest and she finally got to pull the DVD's free. She'd watch an episode before going to grab breakfast. She needed to seem to need time to do her hair and clean up anyhow, and she'd been dying to see what she'd brought into this world with her.

Part of her was stalling with that DVD, because one thing she was barely competent at was breaking into government sites to create a fake id. She'd been trained, but it took her so long that others normally did this for her. Hell, if there was someone to pay she'd do that, but she suspected the only man in town capable of this was Mr. Gold and she wasn't stupid enough to let him know she needed this kind of help.

She kept the volume down on the computer and she had the blinds drawn. No one should get even a hint of this show. Christy had known things going into the Xmen world, but she hadn't brought anything with her, and this was new information. Christy was a little apprehensive about whey 'luck' thought she'd need this. She knew the curse would break, or had broken, in season one. Magic had returned and so had the memories. It had taken a lot to get to that point and in the end the Evil Queen had proved to Christy, at least, that she did love her son.

It had been a little while since she'd seen the show, and her 'job' had prevented her from seeing season two at all. Christy did not bother to blink, or breath, as the show started. Her full attention was on every detail she could get out of this. It was still the same day the curse broke in season two and Christy found herself frowning a little as the story got started.

An hour later she was still watching, because Christy had rewinded and paused the show a few times as she studied what had happened and the interactions between Emma and Regina. Her mind went to things she'd said about this show during season one as she talked with Annie about it. Mystique hadn't been interested in the show and Annie had and they'd spent time talking about it, since Christy wouldn't and couldn't talk about why she was out of town so much.

Swan Queen, even the magazines had used that term and watching episode one of season two, that term rattled around in Christy's mind and grabbed hold. There was chemistry there, a lot of it actually. Having experience saving people, Christy knew that if it was just an obligation for a 'new hero' there was more hesitation in throwing yourself into danger than Emma had. No, that kind of quick reaction time came from an honest need to save that particular person.

"God Regina, you have the key to staying safe after the curse breaks right here and you never grabbed it." She whispered to the screen as it showed Emma once again risk herself to save Regina from the Wraith.

Once the show was over, Christy was tempted to continue on, but she had things that absolutely had to be done today, before Ruby got off work or Mary Margaret arrived for her massage. It was very hard to give up her research when it was proving so important, but she needed that identity fast, before anyone started digging around. There was no doubt that Mr. Gold and Regina would want to know more about her.

Christy carefully put the DVD's back in their very safe hiding spot and she turned the computer off, before shifting into clothes for the day and heading down to the diner for breakfast.

Once she got there Christy noticed him right away. He was watching the door far too much and he looked like he hadn't slept for days. The way he sat up a bit straighter as she stepped inside made Christy feel like he'd been waiting for her and the body language Red had while filling his coffee cup made her think Red had filled that coffee up several times already this morning. All of her observations were supported when after she ordered and was sitting there drinking her juice and waiting, Sydney Glass slipped into the seat across from her.

….

Henry moved his laptop just enough so that he could work on it and still see outside. His fingers moved quickly as searched for the comics he needed on the website, putting things into his cart as fast as possible. He could see his mother in the yard near her apple tree talking with Mr. Gold and she would not approved of the fact he had her credit card in his hands, but he needed to know more about Christy Darkholme. The entire Operation Cobra could depend on it.

He hissed as he saw how she shifted her body, and knew she was ending that conversation outside. Even not finished he had to hit purchase and hurry up to put in the credit card information or he wouldn't get any of them. He didn't even have time to figure out how many of the comics he was missing, he waited until the payment went through and then grabbed the card to race it back to her office.

"Sidney, you better be missing my phone call because you've just found out something about Ms. Darkholme that you're racing over here to me. This is hardly brain surgery, you should have something more than her name for me by now! I thought you were a reporter." He could hear her yelling into her cell phone as he made his way back upstairs.

He closed his bedroom door and checked his computer to see that everything went okay, and he smiled a little as he got the email verification that it had been ordered. He'd spent a good deal of money on comics, the graphic novels he'd ordered were going to take up more space than his entire collection did so far. Christy had an Origins Series, a Team Up with Mystique series, showed up in a few of the Xmen titles, and had a run of her very own series. For someone that barely showed up in his comics, she was nearly as popular as Wolverine in these MAX comics and that was weird because he thought she was a Marvel character.

Villains didn't get their own comics, he had to reluctantly admit to himself. If she had this much out there, she was a hero. Even Mystique had her own title on top of the team up he'd ordered.

…..

Christy would have smirked if she wasn't hiding that she knew exactly what she was doing. Sydney was trying to get dirt on her and Christy was keeping the conversation innocent and uninformative. She kind of resented him interrupted her breakfast like this, because she had things to think about. He wanted to know who she was and she was still working out her new identity. She'd have to start creating it once she got back to her room, but he didn't give her any time to think about it. He didn't even give her time to read that paper he wrote for.

Christy rushed her meal and left him dissatisfied as she went back to her room. She closed the curtains she had opened before leaving, and she locked the door, because she was being spied no she was pretty sure. He looked like he was told he had better get information on her and Christy thought it in her best interest to get that information out fast so that she wouldn't have a shadow as she moved around.

As she was creating the basics, a driver's license that actually existed in this world, a birth certificate, she found her mind wandering to Regina's problem. Christy only had to live with this identity for a few months, maybe a year, and then the curse would break and the truth would get out. Did Christy want it all to break all at once like that? Would that lead to an angry mob trying to hunt her down like they had Regina in that episode? Christy wouldn't have the 'Savior' rescuing her.

If this town tasted blood they might just go for more, Christy thought with less generosity than she'd felt about the town before. She remembered the crowd in the episode and while the show didn't go into detail about what they'd do with Regina, Christy had seen enough brutality in her life to have an idea.

Maybe Red's nickname for Christy was a hint as to what Christy needed to do now, Christy thought. It felt odd to believe in a 'higher power' that her actions were guided, but with the power Annie showed here it was important to consider that.

Thinking about Regina, and how her son had written her off as evil, and yet seeing the humanness of her in that episode and seeing the bits of her past that she'd seen in the show before, Christy decided with a few keystrokes to put a complex plan into motion. Christy created a few blackmail worthy things in her past that Regina would find, things that would be bad enough to threaten her happiness here, but not nearly as bad as the truth, things that people could hold against her. Christy did this, just so that Regina might blackmail her.

Christy was going to pull Regina into her sphere and see if she could influence the woman and avoid some of that trauma from the episode she'd seen. She was going to show Regina how to preplan a redemption and just hoped the woman would follow along with her own.


	4. Chapter 4

It took all day to create the framework for her backstory, and Christy anticipated a three day marathon during her computer time to get it done. It was something Mystique could do in one day and Sage did for people in 4 hours.

She was just getting the framework today, but she still wasn't sure what to use to lure Regina in. If she picked something too small it wouldn't be enough, and too big it would mean she'd just go to Emma with it and have Christy arrested or something. Christy was going to take an extra day to plan that part out. Regina had to think she had the ability to get Christy thrown out of her 'apartment' and to drive customers away.

While she debated about how to hand ammunition over to Regina that she could also prove false if need be, Christy created a fake education and job history. She went with being thirty-six, because she needed a long enough job history. It was still younger than she was now, but it gave her more time than a twenty-eight year old had to develop a life. She'd said she had ten years of travel, so she couldn't be any younger than 28, but she was going to add 8 years to that to fit in an education in psychology and counseling and some job history in that. It might come in handy.

Christy had the computer warn her when it was almost time for her appointment with Mary Margaret because she was really focused. She erased her web browser history and set the computer to play music a half hour before she needed it to. She lit candles and prepared the table with sheets for her only appointment for the day. She'd wait until the end of the week to hit marketing hard, because she really needed the time on the computer now.

The knock on the door was timid sounding and Christy smiled as she opened the door to Mary Margaret. "Well, well, if it isn't Snow White." Christy teased and held the door opened wider so Mary Margaret could come in. The names, real names, were a part of Christy's plan for after the curse. She wanted each of the people she talked to like this to realize all on their own that Christy knew about the curse ahead of time. It seemed like a good way to get invited before this queen to explain herself later.

"Please, I'm no Snow White." Mary Margaret blushed and Christy closed the door behind the teacher as she made her way inside.

"I don't know, you have that pretty pale skin. If you aren't Snow White, maybe you're Alice Cullen?" Christy moved closer as if studying her and watched the woman blush. "Nope, not a vampire."

"Just Mary Margaret Blanchard here." Snow's light weight alter-ego told her with a hint of a smile.

The teasing seemed to help the teacher relax, which was a nice side effect. Christy explained the process and stepped outside to wait for permission to enter again.

"Is anything in particular sore?" Christy asked when she was let back in and she was putting the pillows in place to make the teacher more comfortable.

"My lower back has been a bit sore lately."

"Okay, I'll work on that a bit longer." Christy gently folded the sheet off of a leg to get started from the foot up with her. She seemed more skittish about massage, so Christy was going to start slower than with Red. "Do you want me to massage your buttocks? That often helps with low back pain." After a moment where she seemed to tense up more than relax Christy spoke more softly. "I do it through the sheet, I don't uncover you for it."

"And that's a part of massage?"

"Only for those that want it. I only touch what you want me to, and you can tell me if I'm doing it too hard or too soft." Christy started to warm up Mary Margaret's foot with some slow firm touches. "The point of this is for you. I do what you want or need, nothing more or less."

"I'm being silly, aren't I?" Mary Margaret sounded a bit embarrassed.

"Not really, I was pretty nervous at my first massage. It's not knowing what you signed up for." Christy continued to softly explain all the various types of massage there were, and focused on the few she could do, or pretend to do. One good thing is no one here had massage before, or didn't seem to have a place for it at least. Christy would be able to claim anything and no one could prove her wrong. Still she had been somewhat trained.

"Oh, I thought, well you hear about massage parlors." The teacher stammered and Christy found it hard to stop smirking, as she realized in spite of that misconception, Mary Margaret came for her appointment. She kept that amusement out of her voice though when she answered the woman.

"Those places usually don't have trained people working there. Not trained in regular massage and not trained in Tantric either. It's good enough for men, they aren't hard to please, but a woman wanting something closer to sensual massage would want a real Tantric massage therapist." Christy moved to work on Mary Margaret's other leg and foot. "That type of massage has its place. It isn't merely about 'getting off', it's about healing and getting in touch with your own sexuality. I talked with a Tantric Massage therapist who said it was good for helping women overcome traumas from the past and reclaiming their own sexuality. That it often led to an emotional healing. She really believed in what she did and considered herself a healer, not a prostitute."

"Really, and women went to her for that?" Mary Margaret flexed her food a bit in Christy's hand and Christy made her touch a bit more firm to avoid tickling her.

"Most Tantric Massage therapists are women. It's less threatening, and women are better about keeping the boundaries between a massage, even that kind, and sex. There is a difference."

"Have you ever?" Mary Margaret's words trailed off. "No, nevermind, I shouldn't have asked."

"I've had it done." Christy admitted quietly. She'd been undercover at the time and the woman she was pretending to be already had it scheduled. It had been a bit of a surprise in her day. She did not know what kind of massage she was in for until it started, and the woman had been there before so Christy had to act like she hadn't been shocked for the first time in years. Now it made her seem more 'worldly' than she felt she was, because she wouldn't have made that appointment for herself. "And I've read up a bit on it, tried it out with a lover, but it isn't something I market myself as. There are laws about taking money for that, but it is kind of amazing."

"Oh wow."

"Yes, definitely. Women are rarely able to just receive pleasure without pressure. It's a good thing to learn. I'm sure it helps them learn to relax during real intercourse." Christy finished up with the leg she was working on and recovered it with the sheet. "We never got to an answer about your buttocks."

"Sure, go ahead." Mary Margaret whispered and Christy pressed her thumbs a bit more firmly into those large muscles in the back, through the sheet.

Christy was waiting outside her room waiting for Mary Margaret after the massage when Red came up the stairs. "Finishing up?"

"Yes."

"I was thinking after the foot rub, we could have dinner. Maybe Mary Margaret will join us." Ruby spoke up and added Mary Margaret in once the door opened. "You up for dinner?"

"Oh, dinner." The teacher looked a little flustered by the question.

"Yeah, 007 owes me a foot rub and then we could get some dinner at the diner."

"Owes you?" The teacher was clearly trying to catch up on the conversation and Christy smiled at her.

"Red lets me borrow her computer while she's at work and she's helped me with some online purchases, because I don't have a credit card. I pay for what I buy and I give her a foot massage after work." She explained their deal. "I'm not above bartering services."

"Wow. Ruby has it good, you staying here." Mary Margaret smiled.

"I know she does." Christy teased and then slipped into her room. Mary Margaret stayed and Ruby moved into the room and plopped heavily down in the chair. "And you just have a cop at your place, how unfair for you."

"I like Emma just fine, thank you." Mary Margaret smiled and moved to sit on the bed, just a little awkwardly.

"Yeah, but she doesn't rub you until you question your sexuality does she?" Red teased and even Christy blushed, knowing more about that story than they did.

"I think it's better Emma doesn't do that." Christy muttered and sat down on the floor after Red took her shoes off. "And would it kill you to get shoes that don't hurt your poor feet?"

Christy took Red's right foot into her hand and started a long firm stroke of it. "God, I'm keeping you in this small nothing town forever, you know that." Red muttered and there was a murmur of agreement from the bed.

"Won't hear any argument from me. Do you see the women I get to touch?" Christy winked at a blushing and grinning Mary Margaret.

After the massage, Mary Margaret actually bowed out of dinner, saying she wanted to be home for Emma. Emma was still having some trouble with the Sheriff's death and apparently she tended to break things in the kitchen when she was upset. Christy noticed that no one was talking about Emma being sheriff yet or running for it. She remembered enough about that episode to know the process of becoming Sheriff was going to be a bumpy one for Emma.

….

The next two days Christy spent every minute she had with the computer working on her back story. She was pretty sure she had something that would work. The disappointing thing was that she didn't have any time to watch the DVD's and definitely no time to start work on the room downstairs. Granny came for her 'trial massage' on the second day, and Christy risked having the computer running the uploads to the Federal Government while she did that massage. It wasn't like even if she got caught, outsiders could get into Storybrooke, but still she was a little tense until the a glimpse at the computer showed it was done. Granny never caught on that Christy's attention was split at that time.

The last day of her deal with Ruby for the computer, Marco was available late afternoon only, he'd called Granny to reschedule and Christy almost let out a sigh of relief at a day alone with the computer, after her work on her identity was over. She had time to watch several episodes.

She did her best not to pause too much, to get as much info at possible. She could watch these again later if need be. As she put in the last one she could fit into her day, she already had a 'hit list' going, and seeing what King George tried to do to Red, and what he had done to Snow, Christy found herself focusing on how to get away with a murder before the curse broke. It would have to look like a complete accident, something with no fault at all, but Christy decided that it would have to happen. She had time, but that man was not going to become an issue. His attitude was too familiar to her to let it survive.

One bit of good news in those episodes was that Christy felt more positive about her decision to see if she could help Regina change, and with the repercussions of the curse breaking. The Regina in season two was a sad, pathetic figure that showed promise of growth, but Christy was not at all happy with what Henry did to her and what people like Rumplestilskin did to her in the past and in sending the wraith after her.

Magic was a part of her, and Henry was telling her to cut it out. Her powers were something to control, like mutant powers, not ignore. It felt like he wanted her to 'pass as normal' and yet he wanted her to solve the magical problem of getting Emma and Snow back. There may be reason to cut out magic, but others weren't being asked to stop, just those that did bad things with it. Christy wasn't sure if magic was really inherently bad or not, but it was uncomfortably close to mutant powers in her mind and she bristled at the thought of being told not to use her own, so why should others stop with theirs?

He was destroying Regina with his black and white mentality and his insensitivity. It put a child on her 'hit list' of someone that she has to do something about, and in spite of how long she'd been in the 'dirty deeds' business, she hadn't ever had to go up against an eleven year old. She expected it would be a different kind of battle, she just needed to wake that kid up and make him grow up a bit. Underneath her tough exterior, Regina was incredibly fragile and her son was going to hurt her badly if he wasn't stopped.

The knock on the door pulled Christy out of her thoughts and she quickly ejected the DVD and put it, and the others, back in their hiding place inside of her, before moving to open the door.

An older man with his hat in his hand stood at her doorway. "Ms. Darkholme? Granny told me you needed my opinion on the extra suite? I'm Marco."

"Well, I'm Christy." She smiled and stepped out of her room. "I think I have a good grasp of what to do, but we're running it by you to see if you have better ideas." She led him back downstairs while doing the polite chit chat, and they discussed the work that needed to be done. He agreed with most of her plans, gave her alternatives, and took measurements for a screen in front of the bedroom half. He also took measurements to make a matching screen that could be pulled over the French doors if needed.

What was really nice was that he gave Christy a ride to the store to pick up supplies, helped her pick them, and drove her back. It was sweet of him and saved her a huge headache since she didn't have a car.

…..

Henry pov

Henry watched for a while as Christy and Marco unloaded Marco's truck. It looked like they had paint and other things. When he saw Ms. Blanchard leaving the diner he was standing outside of he moved to catch up with her. "Ms. Blanchard."

"Oh hey Henry." She looked a bit nervous and glanced back behind him. Henry looked back to see David leaving the diner and heading toward his truck across the street. "What are you up to?"

"Do you think it's possible to do bad things for good reasons?" he asked her, thinking about the comments online about Christy Darkholme.

"Why, what have you heard?" His teacher's eyes stared into him and he was startled by the demanding tone of voice. "oh nevermind, what do you mean?" She seemed to relax.

"Well, can good people do bad things for good reasons?"

She looked a little stumped for a moment, before she nodded, "Yes, yes, I think they can. And who's to say they are 'bad', if it's really for the right reason. I mean love isn't bad, it's never bad."

It didn't feel quite like an answer, but he could see that she was in a hurry and she was walking away from Christy so he just thanked her and moved back to watch Christy and Marco take things inside the in.

"Hey kid, what you doing?" Emma's voice startled him and he turned to see her glancing at Christy and then back at him. The slight frown on her lips was all the warning he had she wasn't happy. "I heard you called her the Queen of Death. She wasn't too happy with that. You have to be careful how you talk to people."

"But she is the Queen of Death." He told her, his words faster than normal. "She's really,"

"Look kid, it's a bit rude to walk up to a stranger and tell them they are evil." Emma scolded him and Henry was a bit surprised at it and the sting in his eyes. "Sometimes it's better to just know something and not say anything about it." Emma paused. "And comic book characters? I thought we were all Fairy Tale characters."

"She just appeared in the middle of town."

"She probably took the bus in." Emma told him, and it was all he could do not to yell that Christy really had just 'appeared' in the middle of town. He looked over towards Christy and was startled to see her staring at him for a tense moment, before she reached into the truck and picked something else up.

"Yeah, yeah." He muttered to Emma, a bit nervous about what the woman would do if she saw him talking about her 'appearing'.

"Want some hot chocolate? On me." Emma rested a hand on his shoulder and he let her lead him into the diner.

He chose a seat near the window, so he could continue to watch what Christy was doing if he wanted to. He saw the post office truck pull up and Christ got good size box. "What did she get?" He asked, wondering if it was guns or poison, or something evil.

"What?" Emma glanced back behind her through the window. "Henry, don't go pestering Christy. What she got is none of your business."

"But she's the Queen of Death, she could have gotten something illegal. Shouldn't you check it out?" He wanted Emma to go out there and demand to see in the box, she was the Deputy after all, the only cop in town now.

"It doesn't work that way Henry. There is such a thing as a warrant and the right not to be searched randomly like that." Emma told him and Henry just glowered at her.

Christy wander into the dinner, her box still in her hand and Henry stared at it, until he noticed it coming closer to him and then his eyes shot up to see Christy smirking at him. "Hey Emma, Henry."

"Hey Christy, what you doing here?" Emma smiled at her and Henry didn't try to hide his frown at that. She should have asked about that box.

"I eat all my meals here, that's the deal I got on my room." Christy smiled and rested the edge of that box on the table, as if taunting Henry with it.

"It's a little early for dinner."

"No, it's actually incredibly late for lunch." Christy smiled at them both, but Henry didn't even know what to do until Emma nudged him under the table. He nodded a brief, unfelt, greeting. "I'll see you guys later."

"Why don't you sit with us?" Emma asked, even though Henry shook his head no at her when Christy wasn't looking. He wanted to ask Emma about if Christy could possibly be good, even though she did bad things. He couldn't ask that with Christy right there.

"Ah," Christy grimaced. "I'm waiting to see if Regina's forgiven me for the last time I was near Henry. I'm not going to push it."

"What happened?" Emma turned to look at Henry and then back at Christy.

"Did you ever get your answer Henry?"

"Yeah," He stared down at the table. "Being a lesbian means you like girls the way other girls like boys."

"Kid overheard something walking past Red and I, and I ended up sticking Regina with explaining that one." Christy chuckled just a little.

"Oh, I see." Emma seemed to be smiling a bit much at that and Henry didn't understand their amusement. He watched Christy walk over to the counter and sit down right at it.

"She doesn't seem all that evil to me."

"Do you really think so? I mean she isn't lying and pretending to be good is she?" He asked her and waited desperately for Emma's answer.

"No, I think she's probably a pretty nice woman. Still, you shouldn't spend time hanging around strangers Henry, that's just not safe." Emma told him.

"But what if she did bad things in her past, what if she killed people?"

"We don't know that." Emma sighed heavily. "Look Henry, you can't accuse her of murder without proof."

"I didn't," His words trailed off and he frowned as he considered what to say. "Is it possible to do bad things for good reasons and still be a good person?"

"Henry," Emma leaned closer and stared at him a moment. "Everyone runs into a situation like that in their life, where they don't have a 'good and right' solution to a problem. You just have to do the best you can with the hand you're dealt." She stared even harder. "Have you done something you're ashamed of Henry?"

"No, no," He shook his head firmly and she seemed to relax. "I just read something and I wondered."

They were finishing up their hot chocolate when Emma got a call. Henry told her he could walk home on his own, and waited until she'd left the diner, before getting up and moving toward the counter.

"What's in the box?" He asked from behind her and watched as she slowly turned to look him in the eyes.

"Comics, apparently my comics." Christy spoke softly and he glanced around to see that Ruby was waiting on someone across the diner and no one else was sitting at the counter. "I wanted to see how wrong they were, because there are always several sides of a story and the writer picks who gets to tell theirs." Christy turned on her chair and stared at him. "I want to see how much they left out, how they painted me, because when the curse breaks I have to deal with that and if this," Christy patted the box, "is an unfair telling I have to know."

"You think it has lies?" He frowned, thinking she was trying to make him not believe.

"I think it's probably incomplete. You like spiderman right?" He nodded, confused at where she was going with that. "Okay did you read how he started off as Spiderman, before he was a hero? What if you only got to read about his using his powers to make money as a wrestler? He isn't a hero there, but if the writer only chose to tell you that part he seems like a jerk."

"But the writer has to tell the full story."

"No, the writer only has to tell what parts of the story they want to in order to make the reader feel and think what they want them to. I want to know what the writers wanted people to think about me."

Christy glanced behind him. "Hey Ruby, got my box." Christy pointed at her box.

"You want me to see your box?" Ruby gave Christy a teasing grin that made no sense as she walked towards them. Adults were strange at times.

"You know it." Christy shoved her glass closer to Ruby and got a refill of her water.

"Henry, shouldn't you be heading home? Your mother will be off work soon." Ruby warned him and he nodded, but it was very hard to turn around and leave. Christy believed him, and she knew more than she should, he was sure of it now. He rushed back to her before getting halfway through the diner, just as Ruby walked away.

"So you think the curse is going to break." Henry's eyes widened and he whispered while getting closer.

"Yes, I do."

"I want you in Operation Cobra." He told her, making up his mind in that moment.

"Let me hold off on answering you on that one, but if I do join, I've got to be the super secret member. No one else could ever know." She gave him a hint of a smile and he beamed back at her, before rushing out of the diner. He'd have to arrange a time to meet with her privately, to explain what was happening, but after the past week, he felt a bit more hopeful that something was going to go right. Maybe good couldn't fight evil right, because they fought fair, but Christy was a gray hat and maybe he needed that.

….

Christy didn't even try to stop the tears from trailing down her face as she set the comic on the bedside table. Breathing was a little hard, so she did stop doing that. The cover of the Origins comic stared up at her. She'd started at the beginning, but found it was the most painful part.

In a comic you could see what you weren't there for, and you could see into people's minds and Christy was shaken by it. She was both feared and loved more than she'd known.

It was two in the morning, and Christy didn't think it would be a good idea to try and sleep after revisiting that dark part of her past. There was so much missing from the story, but the core of it, the pain of it, remained. She didn't want to even think about the nightmares she'd have. She also didn't feel strong enough to open another graphic novel at the moment, and the second of the origins series stared at her.

Finally she had to get away, and so Christy made up her mind to do something constructive. She slipped downstairs and she opened the door to the new suite she was working on. In the middle of the night she'd have to keep the noise down, but she pushed all the furniture away from the walls and she taped up the trim, before she worked on painting.

She didn't have a ladder, so she made sure the windows were covered and she lengthened her legs, because she needed to keep in motion. By six in the morning she was done with the second coat and she was tearing up the carpeting, as they were replacing it. She'd moved the furniture in the room from one side to the other while she worked and she didn't bother with the tools Marco bought for cutting, she used her own claws for it. Some parts of the carpet were shredded to confetti, as there were a few times she just needed to destroy something.

When Granny slowly slipped into the room Christy was stacking the carpet pieces near the French doors so she could take them out to the garbage. "Oh my."

"I couldn't sleep." Christy told her while tossing the last of the carpet into the pile.

"You did all this in one night?" Granny asked her with wide eyes. Christy gave her a weak smile.

"I still need to lay the flooring, and paint the trim." She looked around the room. "And I'm creating a hollow wall that the screen will slide into." The job was looking a lot smaller now though. "The most time consumer part will be working out the furniture, repairing what I can. Marco said he'd help when I get in over my head on those." She glanced back at the older woman. "What hours can I make noise?"

"Ten to five." Granny told her softly, still looking around at the order Christy had made of the chaos already. "Good job so far." She shook her head from side to side and turned for the door. "I've got to get to the diner, but if you have any questions, just come by or call over."

"Will do." Christy nodded and then paused for a moment. "Where is the dumpster? I have to toss the carpet."

"It's on the side." Granny pointed in a direction. "You can pull it out of the door here and on the fence you'll see the lock." Granny pulled out a large keychain and handed over one of the keys. "To the fence." She explained and then she was off to work.

After dumping the carpet Christy made her way over to the diner for breakfast. She had to wait until ten before she could do anything else. The wall had to go up before the flooring. She should have put it up before painting, but at that hour she just did what she could and she'd paint the rest after it was up and ready.

…

Regina sat down at her desk and stared at Sydney. "Tell me you have something."

"I have something." He smiled at her, looking like a pathetic and desperate puppy eager for love. He wouldn't be getting it. He took a few timid steps forward and put a file on her desk.

"Is there anything you need to add to this?" She asked as she held the folder up.

"She's got a checkered past that would be great front page news." He told her and it peeked her interest. Regina opened the file and started to go through the pages of research herself, rather than listen to his simpering as he told her the details.

Oh, this was good information, she thought and slowly she started to smile. "No, hold the presses on this Sydney. I want to talk to her first."

"And what about that other story, about Emma?" He asked.

"Oh, run that one." Regina said with a large smile. "She thought she could run for Sheriff, she deserves the publicity." She tapped a finger on the file on her desk. "I'll hold onto this until it proves useful."

She laughed as he left, it was proving to be a really good morning. Tomorrow's headline would be Emma's jail time and she had a massage to schedule for later that day after the news broke.

….

Christy gave Ashley a small smile as she was handed the menu. It wasn't really necessary to read it anymore, but Christy looked it over for any new inspirations for breakfast. She was going to take a while just sitting here, and then she'd force herself to read yet another graphic novel before starting on the walls. She had to do it, but it wasn't easy. At least she could say it was fair and balanced. It showed her pain at the decisions she had been forced to make, she wasn't a villain in that first book, but she was able to sit outside of herself and see how she ended up becoming what she was now. That sort of self-reflection didn't really belong in a comic book, in Christy's opinion, but she couldn't say she was surprised to find she'd gone full circle, from using them for inspiration to keep moving to becoming them.

Her plate was brought to her as Mary Margaret slipped into the diner. Christy was about to call her over, but she watched the slightly nervous movements of the brunette and the way she sat at a table facing the door. Christy ate slowly as she watched the sad debacle that was David coming in to get some coffee and Mary Margaret saying a few awkward words with him as he waited for his order. Christy watched him slip outside to the car with a blonde woman in it and she knew that must be Katherine, the woman that the curse had given him as a wife, instead of his real true love, Snow White. Christy sighed and picked up her plate and moved to walk slowly over to the table that held a depressed looking teacher.

Christy spoke quietly and sat down across from her. "You okay?"

"What, oh, nothing's wrong." Mary Margaret muttered, but she wasn't looking at Christy's face.

With a small hint of a smile, Christy leaned forward. "Love hurts like hell, doesn't it?" She couldn't really identify as well as she'd like to, but she gave the woman a small friendly smile. "I'm not judging, I won't."

"Oh God." Mary Margaret let out a heavy breath and leaned her forehead on her hands, propping herself up. "I'm sad, a sad pathetic, immoral,"

"I didn't mean that since I wasn't judging you should do your own." Christy reached out to take one of the teacher's hands off of her face, so she could see her. "You're a passionate woman under all the meek exterior and you're smart, caring, and I'm sure if your back is to a wall you could be fierce. You're in a bad situation, it doesn't make you a bad person."

"You don't think so?" Mary opened her eyes and stared into Christy's. "He's married, you got that didn't you?"

"Yeah, I figured that one out, even if I hadn't read all the latest newspapers, I would have caught that one." Christy pointed at her plate. "Bacon? I got a bit more than I can eat. No, okay." Christy leaned forward, keeping her voice quiet. "He doesn't remember her, and you didn't know about her when you fell for him did you?"

"No, how did you know? The newspaper didn't say anything,"

Christy cut her off with a wave of her hand and a smile. "I'm a student of human behavior, filling in blanks was practically my job for years." She sighed as a pause. "But the point is, you didn't see a married man and go after him. You had lousy luck and neither of you knew about that problem in the start. It's what you do now that matters though."

"I should leave him alone, I know that." She spoke quickly.

"No, that's not what I'm saying." Christy shook her head from side to side. "You need to take care of yourself and if he decides to come back, great, but you aren't eating any breakfast that I see. Did you eat at home?" Mary Margaret looked a little lost and Christy smiled. "You need to stay sexy babe, eat right, get exercise, do things that make you happy. A sad, depressed woman isn't going to tempt someone into having 'that talk' with their wife."

"You want me to steal him?" She gave her an odd look, as if unable to believe what she was hearing.

"No, nothing underhanded. I want you to continue to live your life and if he changes his to fit into yours, great." Christy's smile faded a little. "I'm not normally the one giving love advice, but I do help people put their lives together after it has been devastated. I understand grief in a way few have to and you are grieving. Fake it til you make it White, make yourself live and do things that used to make you happy and it'll come."

"White?"

"Hey, my first friend here is Red, so if you're my friend too, White."

"Because I'm Snow White?" Mary Margaret looked a little disturbed by that.

"Yep, you're the Princess. I could call you that, or will you take White?" Christy teased.

"White it is." Mary Margaret sighed heavily. "Fake it? That works?"

"It does for me." Christy told her and noticed the raised eyebrow she got in response. "Finding other things to get involved in helps, for you it might be a new hobby, learning a new skill or a new person." Seeing the look of horror on the teachers face Christy smiled a little. "Not a lover, a friend would do. You just need something to keep you from having too much time to dwell on what you don't have. Dwelling on pain never helps, never once." It was also why Christy didn't like that she had comics to read, she'd done her best with the last ten years not to dwell on things, but having to research what this world knew about her brought it all up again and made it fresh.

"What do you do?"

"Honestly," Christy made a face and sighed. "I tend to get all up in other people's business like I'm doing right now."

"Really, you become a counselor?" Mary Margaret chuckled.

"Among other things." Christy rolled her eyes and smiled. "I also tend to swoop in to save the day. If I can't be happy I want to at least help other people be happy."

"That's, well, that's really nice." A hand moved to rest over Christy's on the table. "You're a good person."

"Thanks. So are you." Christy spoke firmly those last three words.

"Everything felt so 'real' with him." The teacher started to confide in her and Christy let her. "Like it was meant to be, but then we found out he was married and he doesn't want to leave her. He's still remembering who he is."

"That is a problem." Christy frowned. "Until someone knows themselves, they can't share themselves with others completely. It's hard to love in that situation. Have you thought about waiting for him to regain enough of himself to start a relationship?"

"I feel like the history is just that, and who he is, inside, shines through regardless." Christy looked at the Queen of another land and wondered if that could be true. She didn't see it here. "It's like he is my one and only."

"Okay, that isn't healthy." Christy muttered more out of habit, but then froze as she wondered if she'd found the one world that really had just one possible, perfect love for a person. She felt a little like she'd stuck her foot in her mouth, but instead of freezing, she continued with what she normally said to that kind of comment rather than draw attention to the fact that Mary Margaret could be right, for herself at least. "If people only have one love, the one and only, the chances of finding that person are astronomical in the world. I think of it like we're all puzzle pieces and we fit differently with different people, but there are people that just 'click in'. It isn't limited in number, and there are different pictures created, but any of those puzzle pieces could be A ONE, and that is enough. Otherwise no widow should look for love again, and some people lose their ONE before they even meet them, because they've died. I can't believe in the one, because if someone planned it out that way, if every world has just one fit I'll never find mine."

"Why?"

Christy grimaced as she thought of the fact that she was the sole survivor, or that she landed in a world where her counterpart existed already. "I've been over half the world, I've seen more than probably 99.9% of people ever do, if not everyone. If I'm still alone, and I am, chances aren't good for THE ONE. However if I just need A ONE, I could find that here."

She sighed and felt White's hand over her own squeeze. "I've learned to be pretty free with my love. There is no reason to hoard it like money."

"Do you mean you sleep around?" Mary Margaret whispered and Christy smiled at the way she asked that as if it were a huge secret.

"Some, but what I really mean is that I don't fight caring about people. When they're gone, that's the first thing you'll regret, never sharing that you cared." Christy was a little surprised her voice cracked on those last words. She gritted her teeth and rode out the pain of that thought. It hurt more because she'd just read about Mark's death that night and the thoughts he'd had right before he went. That man loved her and he knew how much shooting him had hurt her, he forgave her and even thanked her in his last thoughts for keeping him from being captured.

The scrape of the chair legs drew her attention to the fact that Mary Margaret was moving in closer and she pulled Christy into a quick hug. "You've lost someone."

"Yeah, you could say that." Christy managed and pulled back. She'd lost everyone. "Sorry, didn't mean to,"

"No, no, you're human and it isn't weakness to feel pain."

Christy looked into Mary Margaret's eyes. "Thanks." The woman gave her a small smile and one last pat on the leg. "So do you think you're the helping others kind of a griever?"

"Maybe." The teacher glanced at the clock over the door and her face fell. "Oh, I have to get to class."

"You have a good day."

"I hate leaving you like this."

"It's fine." Christy reassured her.

"I'll see you later."

Christy watched her leave and then returned to eating, while pulling her newspaper out. Her vulnerability hurt, and she hoped that the other comics didn't hurt as much to read. She was in a new world and she needed to be able to focus to stay on top of things or she'd have to see yet another.

She noticed that Emma was running for Sheriff now, it was front page news. Things should start to move along faster once that was done. Christy studied the blonde in the picture and smiled a little. It was tempting to help her out, but she knew that Emma had a very powerful ally in this election and it was better to stay out of the way for now. Once Emma had the job, maybe Christy could start getting some things done, but she wanted Emma as Sheriff. It gave Emma the power to stand up to others when the curse broke. That was something Regina and Christy might both need her to be able to do.

…..

It didn't look like it was going to rain so Christy had moved several pieces of furniture out the French doors and into the yard so that she didn't have to move them around as she laid the flooring. Her and Marco had selected a nice tiled carpet and it shouldn't be too hard to install. The new walls were up, not nicely and completely done, but they were to the point that the floor could be done and Christy wanted to do that on a nice day. It was Fall, nearly Winter, so the fact that there wasn't a cloud in the sky now had to be capitalized on. The furniture outside would be fine and if Christy could get all of the flooring done she'd be able to avoid moving it back and forth across the room anymore.

This project was perfect for her right now. She'd read the comic about her arrival in this world after breakfast and it hadn't hurt as much as the first. Her 'character' was now being trained by Mystique and those were good times, good memories. She'd actually laughed a few times at the comedy that was her training at times. It still made her miss her mentor and occasional lover, but it was a good sting in comparison.

"Knock knock." A confident feminine voice called out and Christy looked up at the opened door to the hallway to see Regina standing there with a smile on her face. There was a confidence in her stance and Christy let her amusement show, knowing it would be misinterpreted. It looks like Sydney got Regina that information she wanted this morning.

"Well, hello." She smiled at the mayor and stood up from where she'd been kneeling and opening packages of carpet tiles.

"Looks like you're settling in alright." Regina glanced around the room and frowned just a little.

"Not too badly. Granny is pretty generous." Christy motioned for the woman to come in. "I'm helping her do a little remodeling in here, just cosmetic stuff." She pointed at the fireplace. "This will be a really nice suite once it's done."

"I thought you were becoming a masseuse." Regina asked, while looking around at the paint supplies in the corner and the boxes of carpet.

"That's the good things, I fix this room and I get a reduced rate on it." Christy pointed out the windowless corner of the room. "Bed over there, and over here." Christy pointed right in front of her, "massage table in front of fireplace. This will be better than most of the spas I've seen."

"You're certainly settling in." Regina had lost her smile for a moment.

"I got the impression Mr. Gold was the main landlord in the area and he hinted that I wasn't going to find an apartment." Christy grimaced. "I'll probably be here a while, until he gets over that."

"I wouldn't count on him getting 'over' that." Regina told her.

"Well, I'm not giving up." Christy smiled at the woman. "The ladies here are very sexy." She made a point of checking the mayor out a little obviously.

"Thank you." Regina's eyebrow was a little higher than it had been. "I heard you have started taking appointments for massages."

"oh," Christy stood up a little straighter. "You want an appointment?" Her voice was a little more professional, even though she knew this was part of some plan the mayor had.

"I was wondering if I could get an appointment for tomorrow, around four. Henry has an appointment with his therapist at that time, so it would be a good time to get a massage."

"Sure," Christy hadn't planned to work on massage tomorrow, but she was making time for this. "How long?"

"An hour should do." There was clearly a hidden meaning to that and Christy just smiled at the mayor and nodded. She'd book Regina for two, because there was a very good chance Regina was wrong about that.

"Good luck with the remodel." Regina looked around as if unable to envision that room being anything worth having.

"You'll have to come back for a massage once I have this done. In the winter, with the fire, it'll be downright romantic." Christy gave the mayor a challenging smile that had Regina pause in her escape from the room.

"We'll see." Was all the mayor said as she left the room.

Once Regina was gone, Christy bothered to look at the time and decided she could take a break for lunch, but she wasn't taking a long one. On her way back from lunch she grabbed one graphic novel to read in the room. She was using her powers to speed things up, but because of that she needed to be in the room longer to cover that up. She'd forgotten taking breaks or slowing down during the night and she'd startled Granny too much with her progress. She needed to watch out for that. Dealing with these comics would be a good use of her time.


End file.
